Cells at bursting point at the Immigration Detention Centre ..T&T

Cells at bursting point
By COREY CONNELLY Sunday, January 24 2016

Plagued by chronic overcrowding, unsuitable living conditions and fears of a potential health threat, detainees at the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) are said to be under siege.

And, well-placed sources close to the institution are calling on National Security Minister Retired Major General Edmund Dillon to urgently address the situation, which they say, is seriously affecting operations at the facility.

The sources, speaking on the condition of strict anonymity, told Sunday Newsday that although the IDC, located along the Eastern Main Road, Aripo, was constructed to accommodate a specific number of persons, the detainees currently housed there far outweigh the institution’s holding capacity.

In fact, a January 2016 listing of the detainees in the IDC, a copy of which was obtained by Sunday Newsday, revealed that the male cell block, which was built to accommodate 70 persons, now has more than twice that number, at 152.

The female cell block told a similar story, sources said.

At present, some 51 women are currently housed in quarters that was built for half of that number.

“As it is now, you have men and women that are sleeping on sponges on the ground inside the blocks and in the case of the men, sometimes you have between ten to 20 people in one cell.

“What kind of thing is that?” one source asked, claiming that one of the officers assigned to the womens’ cell block was moved to another section of the facility after she complained openly about the overcrowding problem.

He insisted that the management of the IDC simply did not have the will to confront the issues affecting the institution.

The source said at least two of the detainees on the listing — one a Venezuelan and the other a Nigerian — have been at the facility since 2011 while the majority came to the centre, last year.

According to the list, the majority of the detainees are nationals of Nigeria, China, Jamaica, Guyana, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

The source said the reasons for a detainee’s lengthy stay at the IDC varied.

“Some people simply do not want to go back to the countries they came from because they may be scared to go back for political reasons or issues they may have with persons in the illegal drug trade, in some cases,” he said, adding that some gave wrong addresses and simply wanted to escape poverty.

Launched in November 2009 to stem the problem of illegal immigrants in TT, the IDC was billed as a significant step in the former Patrick Manning- led PNM administration’s thrust to effectively arrest the country’s illegal immigration problem.

Former National Security Minister, the late Martin Joseph had said then that strengthening the nation’s capacity to detain illegal immigrants and other aliens subject to deportation was a key component of the comprehensive strategy to deter illegal immigration into the country.

Prior to the establishment of the IDC, situated on the former site of the Social Development Ministry’s Aripo Remand Building, prohibited immigrants were detained at the Maximum Security Prison at Golden Grove, Arouca.

Joseph said in 2009 that the IDC has the capacity to house 150 detainees, both male and female, and will be under the stewardship of the Immigration Division.

The facility is manned by retirees from the prisons and police service as well as immigration officers.

However, the officers are said to be fedup and overwhelmed.

One source reasoned that the overcrowding problem had the potential to become explosive if the appropriate checks and balances were not implemented.

“If you have two shifts (7 am to 7 pm) at five officers per shift and the detainees were to get angry and uncontrollable, what would be the situation?” he asked.

“Then, there are times when officers may be on sick leave.

That could also exacerbate the problem.” To add insult to injury, he revealed that the detainees, men and women, had only one suit of clothes to wear at any given point in time.

“The women wear purple and the men wear orange.

“So, there is a wash and wear situation and you could imagine the stench when that place lockdown,” he said, adding that the washing machines also were not in proper working order.

He said random exercises, involving officers of the Canine Unit and others, also were carried out occasionally in the cell blocks at late hours of the night, causing further distress to the inmates.

He also told Sunday Newsday that detainees who were frequently disruptive at the facility were sent occasionally to the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre, Churchill Roosevelt Highway, Santa Rosa, as a punitive measure.

“But why must you put detainees there with hardened criminals.

Any number of things can happen to them in there,” he said.

Another source alleged that officers assigned to the cell blocks also were stealing the detainees’ cellphones.

“When their relatives come to visit, the officers are supposed to keep the cellphones on the person of the inmates, not take it for themselves,” he complained.

Chairman of the Emancipation Support Committee (ESC) Khafra Kambon, meanwhile, yesterday described the overcrowding problem in the IDC as “excessive.” He said: “It is a pattern that has been existing for quite some time and even though there are systematic efforts to relieve it by facilitating the departure of persons who could purchase their tickets home. But there are counter actions that are keeping up the level of overcrowding.” Kambon, who has spoken out publicly about conditions at the IDC, recalled that although close to 50 detainees had been moved to the Santa Rosa Correctional Facility, last year, following a fire at a dormitory, the overcrowding problem persisted.

“It eased some of the overcrowding for a short while but more continued to be brought in,” he said, adding that last year’s controversial early morning police exercise exacerbated the problem.

Kambon told Sunday Newsday he was especially concerned about the overcrowding in the men’s section.

“I know for a fact that there are sleeping on the floor in dormitories and corridors.” He said many of the detainees are Caribbean nationals who should be given the opportunity to return to their country.

“I have written letters for Jamaicans appealing for them to be allowed to go back home,” Kambon said.

Kambon argued that detainees, whom he said were not hardened criminals, should be accommodated at a “minimum human standard.” “If you cannot do that, then what they are creating is a human catastrophe,” he said.

“There has to be a more aggressive policy to deal with this and we must weigh things in terms of our humanity as a society. Until we are able to resolve this thing holistically we will have a crisis on our hands.”