The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract to hold immigrant detainees at Passaic County Jail in Paterson, New Jersey, has been voluntarily ended by Sheriff Jerry Speziale himself. Officials say that transfer of the remaining hundred or so detainees to other facilities will be complete as of February 1, 2006.

Passaic County Jail (PCJ) was one of five facilities nationwide targeted this past year for audit by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS/IG) owing to substantial complaints of substandard conditions and treatment. The beleaguered PCJ audit, which had stalled in August and was later resumed, was completed in December. On December 29, Sheriff Jerry Speziale announced the termination of contract. The full audit report is due out in February.

The audit also includes Hudson County Jail in nearby Kearny, New Jersey. Activists say that the inclusion of two New Jersey facilities on the IG's short list owes in good part to vigorous advocacy efforts that joined citizen activists on the outside with detainees willing to seek justice for themselves. The NJCRDC submitted more than 80 detainee affidavits to the IG when the audit was announced.

Indeed, pressure on the IG was originally intensified when National Public Radio, using data about detainees and contact information for former detainees supplied by the NJCRDC, reported on the use of attack dogs in PCJ. Immediately after this report, in November 2004, the IG announced its forthcoming series of audits.

Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale has made it clear that persistent demonstrations and activism both within and outside the jail were responsible for his decision to end the ICE contract. "It's definitely more trouble than it's worth," he said, speaking on CNN's Lou Dobbs Show. "There are so many advocacy groups out there.. Regardless where you put these detainees," he went on, "the advocacy groups and the demonstrations will continue, and you're just going to have problems for other facilities."

Bergen County Peace & Justice Coalition (BCPJC), one of NJCRDC's activist partners, has just announced its own campaign to end ICE's contract with Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, one of the several facilities that have received transfers from PCJ. In a statement issued January 10, members of BCPJC wrote:

The Bill of Rights protects everyone, everywhere, from being held without charges by the US Government. It makes no distinction between citizens and non-citizens, or detention within or outside the US border. The Bill of Rights puts limits on the action the government can take at any time. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution says that "No person . shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." .... The detainees have been charged with no crimes. They must be freed.

We demand that the Freeholders end the contract with ICE, stop holding the detainees and stop selling our rights! We have succeeded in ending the ICE contract at Passaic County Jail. Bergen is next!

What you can do: If there is a detention center near you, consider following the lead of the NJCRDC in exposing their plight and helping the detainees and their families. Contact us at info@bordc.org for help.