"Dignity not Detention" Georgia Campaign
Georgia has three immigration detention centers, including two which are run by the Corrections Corporations of America, the country's largest private prison corporation. With a capacity of 1700+, the Stewart Detention Center based in rural southwest Georgia is one of the largest corporate-run immigration detention centers in the country. The recently-opened North Georgia Detention Center is located in Gainesville and has a capacity of 500.
With the growth of the immigration detention system in Georgia, a growing number of concerned residents have taken part in vigils, several humanitarian visitations, and the April 2009 release of a Georgia Detention Watch report that documented violations of immigration detention standards at Stewart. The reports of human rights abuses at Stewart were compounded by the March 11, 2009 death of Roberto Martinez Medina, a 39-year-old immigrant from Mexico detained there who died of a heart infection. To date, many questions about his death remain unanswered.
We now call upon the Hall County and Stewart County Commissioners to end the contracts with the Corrections Corporation of America for the operation of the North Georgia Detention Center and the Stewart Detention Center respectively due to CCA’s deadly track record and lack of adherence to ICE’s own standards; and we call on the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to:
- Institute binding standards for treatment of immigrant detainees that correspond to international human rights norms.
- Utilize community-based and humane alternatives to detention.
- End detainee transfers away from loved ones and communities of support.
- End local enforcement programs that are contributing to the growth of the immigration detention system.
For more information please contact PJ Edwards at info@travelerstogether.org or Azadeh Shahshahani at ashahshahani@acluga.org
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