The Unnecessary Confinement and Dehumanizing Conditions of People in Immigration Detention
A Sep. 4 press conference announced the completion of a study critical of Moshannon Valley Processing Center (Moshannon) in Pennsylvania, run by a private prison company, The GEO Group, Inc.,
Each year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), holds hundreds of thousands of people in detention facilities while they await their immigration court hearings. In 2021, ICE opened Moshannon Valley Processing Center (Moshannon) in Pennsylvania.1 Run by a private prison company, The GEO Group, Inc., it has over 1,800 beds and is the largest immigration detention facility in the Northeast.2 This report is the first to comprehensively investigate conditions at Moshannon. We conclude that people in immigration detention at Moshannon are being held under punitive, inhumane, and dangerous conditions. They have tightly controlled schedules, live in a “pod” with 60-70 other people, wear brightly colored jumpsuits, and are restricted from accessing the outside world.3 Further, people at Moshannon have reported issues ranging from the inability to get medical care to physical and psychological abuse by staff.4 Despite Moshannon’s conversion into an immigration detention facility, it operates more like the former federal prison that it once was.5 Annotated map of the inside and outside of Moshannon noting the men’s pods (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta), the single women’s unit (Echo), and the isolation unit known as the “SHU.” 5 Being sent to Moshannon, however, is not supposed to be a punishment. No one is there to serve time after being convicted of a crime. Instead, many are asylum-seekers who are forced into detention to ensure their appearance in court. Other long time permanent residents—including those that are primary breadwinners or parents of U.S. 1 citizen children—are detained and taken away from their communities based on old crimes. Yet the latest evidence shows that 98% of people released from ICE detention who have legal representation show up to court.6 And despite spending over $1 billion annually on immigration detention, our communities are measurably no safer.7 Rather, immigration detention separates people who are immigrants from their families and puts them in unsafe, harsh conditions. This report is primarily based on site visits and interviews, conducted by community- based organizations and legal groups in the spring of 2023 of people held at Moshannon. Further, we reviewed information obtained about Moshannon from public records requests, interviewed people who were formerly detained at Moshannon, and researched the national state of immigration detention.8 There are three major themes that surfaced from our investigation of Moshannon: (1) physical and psychological mistreatment, (2) barriers to justice, and (3) problems with health and well-being.
The complete report can be read at: acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:a0551b...
The Unnecessary Confinement and Dehumanizing Conditions of People in Immigration Detention
A Sep. 4 press conference announced the completion of a study critical of Moshannon Valley Processing Center (Moshannon) in Pennsylvania, run by a private prison company, The GEO Group, Inc.,
Each year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), holds hundreds of thousands of people in detention facilities while they await their immigration court hearings. In 2021, ICE opened Moshannon Valley Processing Center (Moshannon) in Pennsylvania.1 Run by a private prison company, The GEO Group, Inc., it has over 1,800 beds and is the largest immigration detention facility in the Northeast.2 This report is the first to comprehensively investigate conditions at Moshannon. We conclude that people in immigration detention at Moshannon are being held under punitive, inhumane, and dangerous conditions. They have tightly controlled schedules, live in a “pod” with 60-70 other people, wear brightly colored jumpsuits, and are restricted from accessing the outside world.3 Further, people at Moshannon have reported issues ranging from the inability to get medical care to physical and psychological abuse by staff.4 Despite Moshannon’s conversion into an immigration detention facility, it operates more like the former federal prison that it once was.5 Annotated map of the inside and outside of Moshannon noting the men’s pods (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta), the single women’s unit (Echo), and the isolation unit known as the “SHU.” 5 Being sent to Moshannon, however, is not supposed to be a punishment. No one is there to serve time after being convicted of a crime. Instead, many are asylum-seekers who are forced into detention to ensure their appearance in court. Other long time permanent residents—including those that are primary breadwinners or parents of U.S. 1 citizen children—are detained and taken away from their communities based on old crimes. Yet the latest evidence shows that 98% of people released from ICE detention who have legal representation show up to court.6 And despite spending over $1 billion annually on immigration detention, our communities are measurably no safer.7 Rather, immigration detention separates people who are immigrants from their families and puts them in unsafe, harsh conditions. This report is primarily based on site visits and interviews, conducted by community- based organizations and legal groups in the spring of 2023 of people held at Moshannon. Further, we reviewed information obtained about Moshannon from public records requests, interviewed people who were formerly detained at Moshannon, and researched the national state of immigration detention.8 There are three major themes that surfaced from our investigation of Moshannon: (1) physical and psychological mistreatment, (2) barriers to justice, and (3) problems with health and well-being.
The complete report can be read at: acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:a0551b...