It's hard to know what day it is': families tell of grim Ice detention in Texas

"At the South Texas Family Residential Center, guards allegedly refer to detained immigrant families as inmates, spouses aren't allowed to hold hands, and children don't know where they can kick around a ball without getting in trouble, according to a stark court filing. Yet those are minor indignities compared with accounts given to outside monitors of a lack of clean drinking water, sleep, healthy food, privacy, hygiene supplies and appropriate healthcare."

"The detainees' accounts were published earlier this month by attorneys acting as outside monitors for standards of child detention, who visited Dilley four times since it reopened as a family detention facility after Donald Trump returned to the White House with his mass deportation agenda. The center is run for Ice by the private corrections and detention company CoreCivic, which declined requests for comment on conditions at Dilley."

The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas houses immigrant families in prolonged, often unexplained detention. Guards allegedly refer to detained families as inmates; spouses are barred from holding hands; children lack safe space to play. Outside monitors reported shortages of clean drinking water, inadequate sleep, unhealthy food, lack of privacy, insufficient hygiene supplies and inadequate medical care. Anxiety among detainees is high, and some children have been held far beyond the 20-day legal limit, including an 11-year-old detained 53 days. Attorneys acting as outside monitors visited four times since the facility reopened and documented these conditions. The center is operated for ICE by CoreCivic.

Read at www.theguardian.com