By L.A. Times
The hundreds of immigrant detainees (click here) housed in Orange County’s largest detention facility have been served foul, slimy lunch meat; use moldy showers; and contend with inoperable phones, according to the findings of an internal inspection issued Wednesday.
Some detainees said they had to rinse their acrid lunch meat off with water before eating it, according to the report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
The review, which was based on an unannounced inspection in October and interviews with detainees and staff members, found that the poor conditions violate standards set by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In addition to unsafe food handling, the inspectors found that high- and low-risk detainees were housed together and that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s method for imposing solitary confinement for discipline violated ICE standards....
Business must be good for Wall Street.
A private management company (click here) will house up to 1,300 immigration detainees in Southern California after an agreement between the company, the city of Adelanto and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced Wednesday.
The city approached ICE to express interest in housing a detention facility and in turn negotiated with Florida-based GEO Group Inc. to house the facility, said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.
The company purchased the 650-bed facility from Adelanto last year for about $28 million and invested $22 million to renovate and retrofit it, according to company officials. A 650-bed expansion on adjacent land is expected to be complete by the end of 2012.
At full occupancy, GEO is expected to generate about $42 million in yearly revenue with a 75% occupancy guarantee, company officials said.
The agreement “marks another important step in the agency’s long-term effort to reform the immigration detention system,” ICE officials said in a statement.
ICE also is currently in negotiations with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department to extend an existing contract at the Mira Loma Detention Facility in Lancaster and is in discussions with the Orange County Sheriff's Department to expand its detention contract with that agency.
GEO $43.62
