Lawmaker Reports Inhumane Conditions At Local Center Detaining Immigrant Families

A local lawmaker has reported inhuman conditions at a local center which detains immigrant families.

State Senator Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery/Delaware) bemoaned the reported conditions at the Berks County Residential Center (BCRC), which detains families seeking asylum in the United States while they await their asylum hearings.

“As the minority chairperson of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I am intimately familiar with lawful and appropriate detention conditions and protocols," Leach said. "While the Berks facility is not a state prison under my purview, it is a facility in our Commonwealth that is currently holding human beings, including children, against their will in conditions that seem negligent, abusive, and tragic. Though the legal status of the facility is in question, the treatment of human beings should not be. ICE and BCRC should act immediately to improve conditions.”

In January 2015, a BCRC staff member was charged with seven counts of institutional sexual assault for having inappropriate sexual contact with a 19 year old detained mother in view of detained children, according to Leach.

Leach also cited an August 2015 report by Human Rights First, which exposed the practice of “night checks.” During a "night check," BCRC staff shine a flashlight on sleeping mothers and children every 15 minutes throughout the night. This fosters fear in the children, causes nightmares, and makes it impossible for any detainee to get a full night’s sleep, Leach said.

The report also revealed insufficient medical care, persistent illness, and stunted development in detained children.

Leach highlighted a follow up report in February 2016 which revealed that mothers’ written requests for medical help for their children were ignored by BCRC staff.

The requests were forwarded to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE responded to most complaints by suggesting that detainees must withdrawal their asylum requests in order to receive treatment.

Carol Anne Donohoe, an immigration attorney who represents many families detained at BCRC, has reported dozens of concerns about the conditions at BCRC, including:

• Detained children repeatedly contract pneumonia due to lack of preventive treatment.
• Children are detained for over six months, in violation of a federal court ruling.
• None of the BCRC’s mental health staff speak Spanish, the first language of many detainees.
• Children are held in rooms with unrelated adults. Notably, an eight year old girl from Guatemala was forced to share a room with interchanging, unknown adult men.
• A two year old girl who had been vomiting blood for three days without receiving medical care was eventually told by BCRC medical staff to drink water. She was returned to her room still wearing her blood-soaked shirt.

BCRC recently lost its certificate of compliance to operate as a “child residential facility” under state law.

The Center is located on 1040 Berks Road in Leesport.