Title: The Making of a Criminal: Immigrants and the Prison-Industrial Complex
1The Making of a Criminal Immigrants and the
Prison-Industrial Complex
Karen Manges Douglas Sam Houston State
University Rogelio Saenz Texas AM University
2The Criminalization of Immigrants The Perfect
Storm
- Set in the context of a burgeoning US prison
population AND, - The concurrent movement towards privatization of
many government services - Post 9-11 Terrorism hysteria
- Anti-immigrant sentiment
3Prison Industrial Complex
- Set of bureaucratic, political and economic
interests that encourage increased spending on
imprisonment regardless of actual need
4Historical Legislative Contexts
- 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act which established the
bulk of drug-related mandatory minimums,
including the five- and 10-year mandatory
minimums for drug distribution or importation - 1986 Alien Criminal Apprehension Program which
allocated more resources to locating aliens doing
time in prisons jails in order to apprehend and
deport them
5- 1986 Bureau of Prisons and INS began a joint
effort to house criminal aliens whose criminal
sentences had been completed in order to detain
them - Increased refugees and aslyum seekers from
Central America
6- 1996
- Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) - Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act
(AEDPA) - Drastically expanded the categories of crimes for
which immigrants could be subject to mandatory
detention and deportation
7- 2006 - Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (BICE) changed policy of catch and
release to catch and detain
8Result
- Tripling of the average daily detention rates
from 1994 to 2001 - 5,532 to 19,533
- Doubling of detention rates from 1997 to 2007
9(No Transcript)
10Move towards privatization
- Begun in earnest during the 1980s
- Continues to present
- 1985 1,345 private prison beds
- 1997 106,940
- Of all states, Texas has the most private
prisons the largest prison capacity and the
highest number of actual prisoners held
11- Most of the privately managed facilities are in
the South (74) - Private prisons are the fastest growing segment
of the PIC - Most of the growth in prison construction in
Texas is to house immigrants
12(No Transcript)
13- Hallinan (2001) Going Up The River Travels in a
Prison Nation - The appearance of the prison millionaire marked
a turning point in American penology. Never
before had it been possible in this country to
become rich incarcerating other people. Now it
seems commonplace (p. 174).
14- Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)
- Prison Privatization at its Best
- http//www.correctionscorp.com/
- Founded by
- Tom Beasley, former chair of the Tennessee
Republican Party - Doctor R. Grants, Nashville banker and financier
- Don Hutton, former head of the American
Correctional Association - High profile stock holders
- Honey Alexander, wife of Tennessee Governor Lamar
Alexander - Jeff Neff, Tennessee insurance commissioner
- Ned McWherter, speaker of the Tennessee House of
Representatives
15CCA Board of Directors
16GEO Group, Inc. Global Facility Locations
- North America
- Australia
- South Africa
- United Kingdom
- Source http//www.thegeogroupinc.com/global.asp
17Privatized Federal Immigrant Detention Centers
- Aurora Contract Detention Center (Aurora, CO)
GEO - Eloy Contract Detention Facility (Eloy, AZ) CCA
- Houston Contract Detention Facility (Houston, TX)
CCA - Laredo Contract Detention Center (Laredo, TX)
CCA - Queens Contract Detention Facility (New York)
Wackenhut - San Diego Contract Detention Center (San Diego,
CA) CCA - T. Don Hutto Prison (Taylor, TX) CCA
- Tacoma Contract Detention Facility (Tacoma, WA)
CCA - Source http//www.bordc.org/threats/detention.php
- Note These eight represent half of all federal
immigrant detention centers in the country.
18The Building of the Immigrant Detention Center
Machine
- And once new detention centers are built, it is
likely that the facilities will be open for
business indefinitely, private prison opponents
say. They might pitch new prisons as a way to
solve some temporary need," says Libal, but
once they build the prisons, they will always
fill the beds, especially with private
facilities." He points out that prison companies
usually want to sign contracts with federal
agencies that guarantee a minimum number of
prisoners per month, legally binding the
government to supply the bodies. - Source http//www.alternet.org/story/36282?page4
19The Latest Winner KBR (A Halliburton Subsidiary)
- Halliburton Subsidiary Gets Contract to Add
Immigration Detention Centers - http//www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/national/04halli
burton.html?ex1296709200en01728da2eba059e4ei5
088partnerrssn - 385 million no-bid contract to build to build
detention centers for possible emergency influx
of immigrants.
20The T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center
Source http//subtopia.blogspot.com/2007/02/circu
s-of-detention.html
21Hutto Family Detention Center in Taylor, Texas
(Photo by Jay Johnson-Castro)
- Source http//latinalista.blogspot.com/2006/12/pr
ivatized-immigrant-detention.html
22- Source http//www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,253699
,00.html
23Please Help Us
24- Tent City in Raymondville Texas
- Largest Immigration Prison Camp in the United
States - http//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic
le/2007/02/01/AR2007020102238_3.html
25(No Transcript)
26Construction in 24 Hours
27The Criminalization of Immigrants
- Explosion of noncitizens accused of federal
immigration crimes in Texas - In 2005, the district tried 4,802 defendants
accused of major immigration crimes, a 155
percent increase over 2001 levels - The number of defendants charged with petty
immigration offenses in southern Texas was up 260
percent between 2001 and 2004. - Majority of immigrants were charged with illegal
entry illegal re-entry
28- "When I first started practicing immigration law
many years ago, the only people that were
prosecuted for illegal entry were people who had
entered before or people who were doing something
else wrong when they were entering," says Barbara
Hines, director of the immigration law clinic at
the University of Texas Law School. "I think
that's really changed -- the people who are being
prosecuted now are coming for the first time,
who have no other criminal record, and they are
being prosecuted and serving jail time." - Sentences can range from probation to up to 20
years if the individual has an "aggravated
felony" on record.
29- District Attorneys in border communities decided
to take more cases to end the "revolving door" of
repeat immigration offenders - While an illegal entry charge usually carries no
more than 30 days in jail, most noncitizens
convicted of illegal re-entry receive between
about four and eight years in jail if they have
priors on their record, including immigration
crimes - Immigration has recently surpassed drugs as the
1 federally prosecuted crime
30What is Role of Government in When It Farms Out
Its Basic Functions?
- Privatized Areas
- Military
- Policing
- Prisons
- Welfare
- Education
- Highways
- Natural Resources
31Litany of Abuses of Detainees
- ACLU Challenges Prison-Like Conditions at Hutto
Detention Center - 2 Groups Compare Immigrant Detention Centers to
Prisons - Allegations of Sexual Abuse at Krome Detention
Center - Deplorable Immigrant Detention Conditions
Detailed - Border Policy Success Strains Resources Tent
City in Texas Among Immigrant Holding Sites
Drawing Criticism - Civil Rights Groups Announce Cooperative Effort
to Highlight Unconstitutionality of Immigration
Detention - Detention Centers for Undocumented Immigrants
Fail to Meet Health, Safety Standards, Report
Finds - Families Say Detention Centers Feel Like Prison
- Immigrant Youth Shelter Ordered Permanently
Closed Center Still Being Investigated in
Alleged Sex Abuse - Hell in Hutto
- Privatized Immigrant Detention Facilities for
Families Revealed to be Modern-Day Concentration
Camps - Children Treated Like Criminals at Immigrant
Detention Center - Immigrants Held in U.S. Often Kept in Squalor
- NPR News Investigates Death of Jamaican Detainee
in U.S. Detention Center Due to Substandard
Medical Care - Charges of Abuse at Private Immigrant Prison
- Lifting the Curtain Immigrant Detention Centers
in U.S. Charged with Abuse - U.S. Justice Department Report Confirms 9-11
Detainee Abuses
32Anthony Elliot and Bryan TurnerIntroduction
towards the ontology of frailty andrights
- Pseudo-stupidity
- This is a way of both knowing and not-knowing, of
suspecting but not seeking to check ones
suspicions
33Impact on Human Rights
- Private contractors are engaged in social control
functions which has fundamentally altered the
traditional social control apparatus - General assumption that privatizing government
functions will generate greater efficiency - Is efficiency as judged by corporate profits the
major consideration for evaluating effective
prisons - Interests of corporations is to increase
occupancy rates and punishing persons for longer
periods of time