A bunch of immigrant- and civil-rights groups have named the Pinal County Jail one of the top-10 immigration detention facilities in the nation.
By "top-10," we mean it's among the 10 worst facilities in the country, according to the groups, which have partnered with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.
See also:
-ACLU Still Waiting for Pinal County Jail to Get It Together on Immigrant Detention
-Immigrants Who Fight Deportation Are Packed Into Federal Gulags for Months or Years Before Their Cases Are Heard
This report from the Detention Watch Network details many of the same complaints the ACLU has been pointing out for more than a year now about immigrants detained at the Pinal County Jail.
The point is that corrections are "punitive," and that detention is "civil."
The immigrant detainees in Pinal County -- some of whom are held there for years -- don't get outdoor exercise, face-to-face visits with family, or proper medical care, among other unacceptable conditions, the ACLU has claimed. They do, however, get subjected to excessive use of force and verbal abuse by guards, unusually high phone rates to call family, problems with the grievance system, and other perks, the ACLU alleges.
Specific details and accounts can be found in the ACLU report on the jail released last summer -- here.
Interestingly, Pinal County detention chief James Kimble told former New Times fellow Gregory Pratt last year, "Corrections, detention -- it's all the same thing."
That's why the Pinal County Jail is among the 10 jails these groups are asking the Obama administration to close, since the groups allege that they haven't met the promises of "reform" promised by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. ICE keeps an ongoing list of their immigrant-detention "reforms," which can be found here (Pinal County ain't on there).
The fresh report on the Pinal County Jail, from Detention Watch Network, can be found by clicking here.
