Detainees held in privately run immigration detention centers in the United States say daily life inside the facilities is shaped by the operating companies' focus on the bottom line. Several of the centers are run by for-profit firms, among them the GEO Group, and those held in them describe a system in which basic needs come with steep costs. Their accounts point to poor food, limited care and prices that climb well above what the same goods would cost outside.
One of those who spoke about her experience is Illinaida Gonzales-Ramos, a doctor from Cuba who was recently released from a detention center near Karnes City that is also run by the GEO Group. She was met outside an immigration field office in San Antonio together with her lawyer. Ramos described conditions in which the food and water were so poor that she felt she could not rely on them.
According to Ramos, the meals were inadequate and the food was not washed properly, leaving her unsure of what she was being served. To get by, she said she had to buy extra supplies from the commissary, the in-facility store where detainees purchase food and other items. Over time, those purchases, combined with the cost of phone calls, added up to a heavy financial burden.
Ramos said she spent around 2,000 dollars during her time in detention. Calls were expensive, and calls to her family in Cuba especially so, to the point where she eventually had to choose between food and staying in touch. She described reaching a stage where she could only afford to spend on calls, no longer able to buy more food from the commissary.
An examination of commissary pricing found that detainees are charged between four and seven times more than the same item would cost outside immigration detention. That gap, those who studied it said, shows detainees are effectively being fleeced by the commissary providers. Weekly spending could reach as high as 100 dollars, with a single can of tuna costing about 6 dollars, bought by some simply to have a source of protein.
Detainees also describe broader gaps in care. They say they do not receive decent food or medical care, are often cold, and are not provided with enough toiletries. In that environment, the commissary becomes one of the few ways to secure items that are otherwise scarce, which in turn deepens the financial pressure on those held inside.
For detainees who do not have access to money in a commissary account, another path is what are described as voluntary work programs. Those taking part are paid one dollar a day to put food on trays, keep the facilities clean and carry out the tasks that help keep the centers running. Before his release, a detainee named Gomez worked in the laundry at the Torrance facility, saying he did not have a choice if he wanted to afford phone calls.