Thread by @splcenter

The U.S. has the largest immigration incarceration system in the world. @splcenter & @Am4ImmJustice interviewed people detained in four South #Florida facilities and learned immigrant detention is just #PrisonByAnyOtherName.

Read our report: bit.ly/2Pgmsod

@Am4ImmJustice We examined #Krome Service Processing Center, #Broward Transitional Center, #GladesCounty Detention Center and #MonroeCounty Detention Center, touring the prisons, poring over public records and interviewing detained immigrants. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

Our investigation revealed lacking medical and mental health care, discrimination against people with disabilities and the unnecessary use of #solitaryconfinement as a form a punishment. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

floridapolitics.com/archives/31281…

“I’ll probably be deported before getting any type of treatment,” one woman diagnosed with uterine cancer told us. She is detained in #GladesCounty. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

As sentencing reforms have swept the country & reduced the prison population, immigration prisons are the new cash cow. Contracted by @ICEgov, private prison companies make millions & local and state municipalities get money for locking people up. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

The Trump administration’s extreme anti-immigrant policies have only bolstered this system. The number of immigrants detained by @ICEgov on a daily basis is nearly double what it was five years ago. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

While South #Florida is home to a large immigrant population that has enriched the region’s culture, it is also at the epicenter of our nation's immigrant prison network. The failures in its four detention centers are indicative of problems nationwide. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

South #Florida detention facilities frequently conduct inadequate health screenings, rely on untrained medical care providers and provide insufficient staffing, and delay and deny care and medication. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

The level of mental health care a person can access is largely contingent on where they are detained. The stress and trauma of being incarcerated can exacerbate pre-existing mental health conditions or spark new mental health issues for a detained person. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

Three of South #Florida’s four immigrant detention centers regularly use solitary confinement, which increases anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

One immigrant told us he was sentenced to disciplinary segregation for 16 days in #MonroeCounty, just for singing Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” in the pill line. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

In South #Florida detention facilities, @ICEgov & contractors fail to care for people w/ disabilities. We were told about a lack of interpreters for people who use sign language, confiscated glasses & inadequate accommodations for people w/ limited mobility. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

Krome is dangerously overcrowded. Broward provides insufficient water and food. Monroe has no community visitation programs. Glades has mold in the showers and cells. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

Nationwide, we recommend that the government reduce the detained population through decarceration, end contracts with private prison companies and county jails, improve conditions and enforce accountability. #PrisonByAnyOtherName

In #Florida, we recommend oversight to ensure safety of detained individuals, extend public record laws to private detention facilities, fund legal representation for removal proceedings & end agreements requiring state law enforcement to work with @ICEgov. #PrisonByAnyOtherName