A new Center for Constitutional Rights and Detention Watch Network report finds Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have made assurances to private prison companies guaranteeing that a quota of detainees largely made up of mothers and their children will forever be offered up for lock up.

The so-called "guaranteed minimums" assure that a specific number of detainees will be held in captivity at all times at the for-profit ran institutions.

"Guaranteed minimums, which appear mostly in ICE contracts with private contractors (though some exist with local governments), guarantee that ICE will pay for a minimum number of people to be detained at any given time," states the report, whose lead authors are Dawy Rkasnuam and Conchita Garcia of Detention Watch Network.

Researchers added, "Because the government seeks to avoid paying for detention space that isn't being used, guaranteed minimums are essentially local 'lockup' quotas that influence ICE's decision-making about immigration enforcement, whether or not people will be released, where people will be detained, and ultimately, who will profit or benefit from their detention."

A 2009 congressional mandate already requires that ICE keep a minimum of 34,000 people locked away at all of their facilities at any given time.

Compliants of Abuse Well Documented

In recent times, several human rights organizations have condemned the treatment of families and individuals at many of those camps, going as far as to compare them to Japanese internment camps.

The Karnes County Residential Center in Texas has consistently attracted negative attention based on the number of hunger strikes held there by detainees complaining of inhumane conditions. Among the most persistent complaints voiced by those being held there are cries of no legal representation, allegations of being forced to drink contaminated water and screams of female prisoners being sexually assaulted by prison guards.

"Almost all guaranteed minimums are found in facilities that contract with private prison companies, and ICE actively collaborates with these companies to keep details of their contracts secret," said Ghita Schwarz, Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, in a press statement about the new findings. "The public should have a full understanding of how ICE rewards and incentivizes profiteering off the detention of immigrants."

ICE Accused of Operating in Secret

Given ICE's purported habit of operating with little transparency when it comes to such matters, researchers add it's unknown what percentage of facilities actually function under the guaranteed minimums system or the cost it all comes at.

What is known is profits are reported to be soaring at GEO Group and CCA, the two largest private prison companies in the country. Recent reports are execs from both companies gleefully shared with shareholders that revenues are dramatically on the rise.

Related