Willacy Detention Center: A Tent City

Today’s count: 1,700 detainees

On Wednesday, we visited the Willacy Detention Center in Raymondville, TX, accompanied by representatives of community groups, churches and faith-based groups, as well as pro bono legal service organizations. The Willacy Detention Center – dubbed “Ritmo” by local attorney Jodi Goodwin in an interview with The Washington Post – opened in August of 2006 and consists of 10 large tent-like structures with the capacity to hold 2,000 immigration detainees (1,500 men and 500 women). At the time of our visit, the detention center housed a little over 1,700 detainees. Since October 1, 2007, over 15,000 asylum seekers and immigrants have been detained at the facility.

As we drove up to the facility, the view of 10 large white tents made us wonder how exactly the facility accommodated 2,000 detainees. We were told the tents were “sprung structures,” made of steel beams covered by a synthetic-type fabric. The inside of each tent is separated into 4 “pods,” each holding 50 people. Detainees eat, sleep, and use the bathroom and showers in the same open area within the pod. The toilet and showers are separated from the eating area by only a low wall. In a new building, currently under construction, the bathroom is set up so that a sink and mirror are positioned, making it so that one detainee could be brushing his or her teeth next to someone using the toilet. The bunk beds are lined up in rows close to each other and the beds are so narrow that one local attorney reported that two of her clients had fallen off their beds. As you might imagine, the sloping ceiling of the tent and lack of natural light (there is only one window in each pod) make the space feel incredibly cramped. The Willacy facility, however, does have a real outside area where detainees can be truly out of doors for their “recreation” period – unlike some other detention facilities, including the one in Pearsall.

While the materials used to erect the detention center may seem to be temporary, Willacy Detention Center isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. In June 2008, the facility will complete its expansion of another 1,000 beds. The additional detainees will be housed in a brick building, as opposed to a tent. It will be comprised of 20 pods, each with 50 beds. The set-up of these pods is very similar to the existing ones. The expansion also includes the introduction of 43 isolation rooms to be used for administrative and disciplinary segregation. This expansion will secure Willacy’s position as the largest immigration detention center in the country.

As with the Pearsall facility, the space made available for attorney-client visitation was inadequate. Attorney meeting rooms are tiny closets in which an attorney can sit on a small stool and talk to their client only through a small grate in a heavy plexiglass-type window. Reviewing an affidavit or discussing a document under these circumstances is virtually impossible, and discussing an asylum seeker’s history of persecution or torture in this setting is difficult to imagine. Moreover, while there are 4 courtrooms on site, there were no judges in the courtrooms. The judges are present for asylum and other hearings on a television screen and never see the detainee in person. In fact, all hearings at Willacy are held via televideo conference from San Antonio. The remote nature of the justice system at both Willacy and Pearsall left us with more concerns about these facilities. Stay posted for more from us about these facilities and the impact of detention on those who seek asylum in this country.