A new report on immigrant detention revealed that the federal government's detention inspection process is a "sham."

The report, titled "Lives in Peril: How Ineffective Inspections Make ICE Complicit in Detention Center Abuse" by the National Immigration Justice Center (NIJC) and Detention Watch Network (DWN), detailed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inspections documents of 105 immigration detention facilities. The report focused on six states: Arizona, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Georgia and Illinois. But obtaining these documents were not easy, as it included litigation through a federal court under the Freedom of Information Act.

According to the report, ICE, an agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has not been transparent with its inspections process, despite the Obama administration stating it would work for further transparency. The report also said ICE's inspections are "pre-planned" and "perfunctory reviews" to ensure passable ratings and guarantee local counties and private prison companies continue receiving government funds.

Based on DWN and NIJC's analysis, the ICE data were not readily available and lacked oversight, and, as a result, creates a "culture of secrecy." The two immigrant rights groups also found that inspectors informed the detention facilities of upcoming inspections in advance and inconsistencies with ICE's Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Office of Detention Oversight's (ODO) respective inspection reports.

Detention facilities that encountered human rights violations and unexplained deaths, and were public knowledge, still rarely failed ERO inspections.

"The government fought for years to keep these inspection reports hidden from the public eye, and now we know why: despite its early promises to make the detention system more accountable and humane, the Obama administration has perpetuated a system that ensures detention contractors pass their inspections and continue to receive billions of dollars from taxpayers to detain immigrants, even in jails where there are highly publicized human rights abuses," said Claudia Valenzuela, director of detention for the NIJC.

The DWN and NIJC have recommended ICE to increase transparency, which includes providing inspections reports to the public in a timely manner, submit quarterly reporting to Congress and report on hunger strikes, suicide attempts, use of solitary confinement, work program stoppages and other "significant" events. The two organizations also called for DHS to establish an ombudsman to conduct unannounced inspections at least once per year.

"ICE's inspection processes is fundamentally broken and fails to adequately assess troubling conditions and human rights violations detained immigrants face. Plain and simple -- the Obama Administration's attempts at reforming the immigration detention system have failed: Detention centers are not safe, abuses are widespread and detention facilities consistently fail to meet basic minimum standards," said DWN Policy Director Mary Small.

To read the full report, click here.

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