ACLU Challenges Prison-Like Conditions at
Hutto Detention Center
On August 27, the ACLU announced a landmark settlement with U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that greatly improves conditions for immigrant
children and their families in the T. Don Hutto detention center in Taylor,
Texas.
The settlement was the result of lawsuits brought earlier this year
on behalf of 26 immigrant children detained with their parents at Hutto.
The lawsuits contended that the conditions inside the detention center
violate numerous provisions of Flores v. Meese, a 1997 court
settlement that established minimum standards and conditions for the
housing and release of all minors in federal immigration custody.
Since the original lawsuits were filed, all 26 children represented
by the ACLU have been released. The last six children were released days
before the settlement was finalized and are now living with family members
who are U.S. citizens and/or legal permanent residents while pursuing
their asylum claims.
Conditions at Hutto have gradually and significantly improved as a result
of the groundbreaking litigation. Children are no longer required to
wear prison uniforms and are allowed much more time outdoors. Educational
programming has expanded and guards have been instructed not to discipline
children by threatening to separate them from their parents.
In addition to making those improvements permanent, the settlement also
requires ICE to provide, among other things:
- allow children over the age of 12 to move freely about the facility
- provide a full-time, on-site pediatrician
- eliminate the count system which forces families to stay in their
cells 12 hours a day
- install privacy curtains around toilets
- offer field trip opportunities to children
- supply more toys and age- and language-appropriate books
- improve the nutritional value of food
ICE must also allow regular legal orientation presentations by local
immigrants’ rights organizations; allow family and friends to visit
Hutto detainees seven days a week; and allow children to keep paper and
pens in their rooms. ICE’s compliance with each of these reforms,
as well as other conditions reforms, will be subject to external oversight
to ensure their permanence.
Despite the tremendous improvements at Hutto, the facility retains its
essential character: it was a medium security prison managed by the Corrections
Corporation of America, a for-profit adult corrections company. The ACLU
remains adamant that detaining immigrant children at Hutto is inappropriate
and calls on Congress to compel DHS to find humane alternatives for managing
families whose immigration status is in limbo.
Drawings by some of the children detained at Hutto. Mouse over the small image to enlarge:
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