Those gullible kids went the whole nine yards this week, holding a news conference and issuing a 65-page report called “Voices  from Detention.”  (www.hatefreezone.org/downloads/ExecutiveSummary.pdf)

Well, that’s one likely reaction to the work of Seattle-based OneAmerica and the International Human Rights Clinic at Seattle University’s law school. The report describes itself as corroboration of earlier stories in The New York Times, The Washington Post and CBS News “shining a harsh light on the immigration detention system nationwide” with “evidence of shoddy care, inadequate staffing, lax standards, secrecy and chronic ineptitude.”

Here’s a passage from the report: “Five detainees provided extremely disturbing accounts of strip searches. One estimated that he was strip searched 5-10 times over a period of 2-3 months following attorney visits. During these searches, he was stripped completely and made to stand in front of officers and turn and bend over. He was not touched but felt humiliated.

“Another female detainee was strip searched multiple times after attorney visits. She (said) ‘We were stripped completely naked, a female officer told me to open my legs wide. … We were forced to subject ourselves to this dehumanizing treatment. For several days afterward, I wept and have continued to have nightmares about this treatment.’ ”

Other allegations include:

• Lack of due process and violations of attorney-client privilege.
• The use of physical threats and intimidation to force detainees to sign papers.
• Mistreatment of detainees by guards and federal marshals.
• Inadequate medical care.
• Inadequate treatment of mentally ill, especially refugees who had been persecuted in their homelands.

‘A work of fiction’

Lorie Dankers, spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in the Puget Sound area, said the students’ report “is considered a work of fiction.” It “has numerous inaccuracies and vague references that could not be corroborated or independently verified.”

Perhaps she’s right. Maybe the students’ report and this whole story will go away quietly, chalked up to a case of “he said-she said” and reported in a fair and balanced way, but with the truth still in doubt.

Outsourcing our prisons

The federal detention facility in Tacoma where the abuses are alleged to have occurred is not run by the government. It’s part of a growing U.S. industry: prison management. The operator is GEO Group (www.thegeogroupinc.com) a worldwide company based in Boca Raton, Fla. GEO Group did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

Supporters of for-profit prisons make a valid case for their efficiency and flexibility. But in a look at the prison-outsourcing trend, the PBS program “Now” on May 9  described the downside (www.pbs.org/now/shows/419/transcript.html).

For one thing, in efforts to keep costs down, they might tend to understaff the prison, leaving guards vulnerable to inmate violence.

“But there’s another charge that won’t go away,” the reporter said. “Private prison companies lobby for harsher and longer sentencing guidelines that would help to keep prisons filled.” In Colorado, for example, there are lobbyists “working behind the scenes to defeat reforms.”

So far, Washington state has not bought into the idea, and the Department of Corrections operates all of the state prisons, with their 17,000 inmates.

GREGG HERRINGTON’s column of
personal opinion appears on the Opinion page each Friday. Reach him at
gregg.herrington@columbian.com.