The Making of a Criminal:
Immigrants and the PrisonIndustrial Complex
Karen Manges Douglas
Sam Houston State University
Rogelio Saenz
Texas A&M University
The Criminalization of Immigrants:
The Perfect Storm
 Set
in the context of a burgeoning US
prison population; AND,
 The concurrent movement towards
privatization of many government services
 Post 9-11 Terrorism hysteria
 Anti-immigrant sentiment
Prison Industrial Complex
 Set
of bureaucratic, political and economic
interests that encourage increased
spending on imprisonment regardless of
actual need
Historical & Legislative Contexts

1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act which established the
bulk of drug-related mandatory minimums,
including the five- and 10-year mandatory
minimums for drug distribution or importation
 1986 Alien Criminal Apprehension Program
which allocated more resources to locating
aliens doing time in prisons & jails in order to
apprehend and deport them
– Bureau of Prisons and INS began
a joint effort to house “criminal aliens”
whose criminal sentences had been
completed in order to detain them
 Increased refugees and aslyum seekers
from Central America
 1986
 1996


Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act (IIRIRA)
Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act
(AEDPA)
• Drastically expanded the categories of crimes for
which immigrants could be subject to mandatory
detention and deportation
 2006
- Bureau of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (BICE) changed
policy of “catch and release” to “catch and
detain”
Result
 Tripling
of the average daily detention
rates from 1994 to 2001

5,532 to 19,533
 Doubling
2007
of detention rates from 1997 to
Move towards privatization
 Begun
in earnest during the 1980s
 Continues to present


1985 – 1,345 private prison beds
1997 – 106,940
 Of
all states, Texas has the most private
prisons; the largest prison capacity; and
the highest number of actual prisoners
held
 Most
of the privately managed facilities are
in the South (74%)
 Private prisons are the fastest growing
segment of the PIC
 Most of the growth in prison construction
in Texas is to house immigrants

Hallinan (2001) Going Up The River: Travels in a
Prison Nation
“The appearance of the prison millionaire
marked a turning point in American penology.
Never before had it been possible in this
country to become rich incarcerating other
people. Now it seems commonplace (p. 174).

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)
“Prison Privatization at its Best”
http://www.correctionscorp.com/

Founded by




Tom Beasley, former chair of the Tennessee Republican Party
Doctor R. Grants, Nashville banker and financier
Don Hutton, former head of the American Correctional
Association
High profile stock holders



Honey Alexander, wife of Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander
Jeff Neff, Tennessee insurance commissioner
Ned McWherter, speaker of the Tennessee House of
Representatives
CCA Board of Directors
GEO Group, Inc. Global Facility
Locations
 North America
 Australia
 South Africa
 United
Kingdom
 Source:
http://www.thegeogroupinc.com/global.asp
Privatized Federal Immigrant
Detention Centers

Aurora Contract Detention Center (Aurora, CO) [GEO]
Eloy Contract Detention Facility (Eloy, AZ) [CCA]
Houston Contract Detention Facility (Houston, TX) [CCA]
Laredo Contract Detention Center (Laredo, TX) [CCA]
Queens Contract Detention Facility (New York) [Wackenhut]
San Diego Contract Detention Center (San Diego, CA) [CCA]
T. Don Hutto Prison (Taylor, TX) [CCA]
Tacoma Contract Detention Facility (Tacoma, WA) [CCA]

Source: http://www.bordc.org/threats/detention.php

Note: These eight represent half of all federal immigrant detention
centers in the country.







The Building of the Immigrant
Detention Center Machine

“And once new detention centers are built, it is
likely that the facilities will be open for business
indefinitely, private prison opponents say. “’They
might pitch [new prisons] as a way to solve
some temporary need,’" says Libal, “’but once
they build the prisons, they will always fill the
beds, especially with private facilities.’" He
points out that prison companies usually want to
sign contracts with federal agencies that
guarantee a minimum number of prisoners per
month, legally binding the government to supply
the bodies.”

Source: http://www.alternet.org/story/36282?page=4
The Latest Winner: KBR (A
Halliburton Subsidiary)
 “Halliburton
Subsidiary Gets Contract to
Add Immigration Detention Centers”
 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/nation
al/04halliburton.html?ex=1296709200&en
=01728da2eba059e4&ei=5088&partner=r
ssn
 $385 million no-bid contract to build to
build detention centers for possible
emergency influx of immigrants.
The T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center
Source: http://subtopia.blogspot.com/2007/02/circus-of-detention.html
Hutto Family Detention Center in Taylor,
Texas (Photo by Jay Johnson-Castro)
Source: http://latinalista.blogspot.com/2006/12/privatized-immigrant-detention.html
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,253699,00.html
“Please Help Us”
Tent City in Raymondville Texas:
Largest Immigration Prison Camp in the
United States
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020102238_3.html
Construction in 24 Hours
The Criminalization of Immigrants


Explosion of noncitizens accused of federal
immigration crimes in Texas
In 2005, the district tried 4,802 defendants
accused of major immigration crimes, a 155
percent increase over 2001 levels
 The number of defendants charged with petty
immigration offenses in southern Texas was up
260 percent between 2001 and 2004.
 Majority of immigrants were charged with illegal
entry illegal re-entry

"When I first started practicing immigration law many
years ago, the only people that were prosecuted for
illegal entry were people who had entered before or
people who were doing something else wrong when they
were entering," says Barbara Hines, director of the
immigration law clinic at the University of Texas Law
School. "I think that's really changed -- the people who
are being prosecuted [now] are coming for the first time,
who have no other criminal record, and they are being
prosecuted and serving jail time."
 Sentences can range from probation to up to 20 years if
the individual has an "aggravated felony" on record.

District Attorneys in border communities decided
to take more cases to end the "revolving door" of
repeat immigration offenders
 While an illegal entry charge usually carries no
more than 30 days in jail, most noncitizens
convicted of illegal re-entry receive between
about four and eight years in jail if they have
priors on their record, including immigration
crimes
 Immigration has recently surpassed drugs as the
#1 federally prosecuted crime
What is Role of Government in When It
Farms Out Its Basic Functions?
 Privatized Areas







Military
Policing
Prisons
Welfare
Education
Highways
Natural Resources
Litany of Abuses of Detainees

















“ACLU Challenges Prison-Like Conditions at Hutto Detention Center”
“2 Groups Compare Immigrant Detention Centers to Prisons”
“Allegations of Sexual Abuse at Krome Detention Center”
“Deplorable Immigrant Detention Conditions Detailed”
“Border Policy Success Strains Resources: Tent City in Texas Among Immigrant Holding Sites
Drawing Criticism”
“Civil Rights Groups Announce Cooperative Effort to Highlight Unconstitutionality of Immigration
Detention”
“Detention Centers for Undocumented Immigrants Fail to Meet Health, Safety Standards, Report
Finds”
“Families Say Detention Centers Feel Like Prison”
“Immigrant Youth Shelter Ordered Permanently Closed: Center Still Being Investigated in Alleged
Sex Abuse”
“Hell in Hutto”
“Privatized Immigrant Detention Facilities for Families Revealed to be Modern-Day Concentration
Camps”
“Children Treated Like Criminals at Immigrant Detention Center”
“Immigrants Held in U.S. Often Kept in Squalor”
“NPR News Investigates Death of Jamaican Detainee in U.S. Detention Center Due to
Substandard Medical Care”
“Charges of Abuse at Private Immigrant Prison”
“Lifting the Curtain: Immigrant Detention Centers in U.S. Charged with Abuse”
“U.S.: Justice Department Report Confirms 9-11 Detainee Abuses”
Anthony Elliot and Bryan Turner
Introduction: towards the ontology of frailty and
rights
 Pseudo-stupidity

This is a way of both knowing and notknowing, of suspecting but not seeking to
check one’s suspicions
Impact on Human Rights

Private contractors are engaged in social control
functions which has fundamentally altered the
traditional social control apparatus
 General assumption that privatizing government
functions will generate greater efficiency


Is efficiency as judged by corporate profits the major
consideration for evaluating effective prisons
Interests of corporations is to increase occupancy
rates and punishing persons for longer periods of time