Detainees in the California City Detention Center are advocating to be able to hug their family members during visits. The Hugs Beyond Bars campaign consists of letters written by detainees detailing the issues they face and asking for a change to be made. There is also a petition that will be sent to local, state, and U.S legislatures with a goal of 500 signatures.
“Many of us hace been detained for months without any contact visits where we can embrace our family members, especially our children. Not being able to embrace and hold our children, parents, spouses, and siblings takes a high emotional toll on both the detainees and the loved ones,” wrote the M100 dorm detainees in a letter.
The letters are addressed to Warden Christopher Chestnut, and many of them mention that in the other detention centers, they were allowed to hug their families, including Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex.
Immigration Attorney Ana Huerta, with the Rapid Response Network, stated that although she is permitted contact visits as an attorney, she still sees a difference in the detention centers.
“There there is a visible difference in that I’ve gone in a clinic setting inside Mesa Verde where we’re able to have individuals in sort of a big cafeteria room, and we can go around and talk to them while they’re waiting to see an attorney and then even while we’re done, you have an opportunity to just kind of like chit chat,” said Huerta before describing her visits in California city. “It’s much more restrained in a smaller space, and then I have witnessed the division that is in place for where they have the family visitation, and it’s like in the movies, right to be honest. I’ve never seen anything like that. I’ve never gone into a prison setting, outside of immigration detention.”
Huerta explained that the California City Detention Center even has a large cafeteria area next to the visitation area, and chose not to use it. She stated that being kept from hugging their families can make it harder to keep fighting when inside the center, as they face inhumane conditions.
“I mean, the fact that people in ICE custody at California City Detention Center are not allowed to hug their loved ones it’s just It’s outrageous, right?” said Huerta. “People in detention have already been unjustly separated from their families and are clearly subjected to inhumane and dangerous conditions. Which is not only negatively impacting their physical health but also their mental health and their spirituality, their ability to keep fighting. And on top of that, they’re just denied contact visits, this momentary comfort.”
A letter from dorm M200 detailed more reasons to allow contact visits, explaining that some people are seeing their families face health issues, or they themselves are suffering in the center. They noted that some people were detained right before their children were born, so they have never been able to hold their newborn babies. If they had children before being detained or moved to California City, they have to explain why the relationship has changed so much.
“Parents who were building bonds with their children while being held at other detention facilities that offered in-person contact visits are now left with the difficulty of trying to explain to their children why they can no longer sit with them, eat with them, and hold them, but instead can only speak to them through a thick glass window,” wrote the M200 dorm detainees.
Detainees from dorm N100 wrote about the impacts of not being able to have contact with their family members during visits.
“This circumstance contributes to the lack of sleep, loss of appetite, and depression. Sadly, in some cases giving up and withdraw their right and self-deport. Moreover, a lack of interest for life with suicide ideation by the mere thought of being separated from their family and losing their home, along with everything they worked for,” wrote the N100 detainees.
Huerta stated that another heartbreaking reality for many detainees in California City is that they were transferred there and are no longer near their families, friends, and resources.
“So they’re being transferred out literally to a place that they’ve never been to before, where they know nobody, and they have no access to resources. I have been told that when I do a consultation that I’m the first person that they’ve talked to on the outside. So it’s really just heartbreaking, the isolation that these individuals are going through,” said Huerta.
Huerta stated they hope the campaign and the petition make it clear that people are watching and that this is not a hard ask for the center to accommodate.
“What we really want is we want to show that this is something that we are watching right. That this is something that has come to the public attention. That we have our eyes on and that we want to rally behind and push Core Civic administration to institute what really should be a low lift, right? We’re not asking for major restructural change or five-star dining in the in the dining room. We’re really just asking for contact visits, which this facility has the capacity to do,” said Huerta.
According to Brian Todd, Public Affairs Manager for Core Civic, contact visits are not allowed because the National Detention Standards do not require them. He added that contact visits may increase the risk of contraband entering the facility and pose a safety risk.
Huerta explained that the letters are being sent to both legislators who have and haven’t visited the detention center. She stated there could be a disconnect surrounding the truth of what the conditions are like inside the detention center.
“There are many legislators, and in fact, many local county legislators that have not visited the facility. So I think the local leadership takes the reports from Core Civic as truth when we know that they’re not true,” said Huerta. “We know that they’re false. We know from the testimonies on the inside that the living conditions are just completely horrendous, and I think as well, like the citizens of California City on the ground just have no idea what’s going on on the inside.”
She added that at the heart of the campaign is “human empathy.” The campaign website has the full letters from the detainees along with the link to the petition. At the time of this article, the petition has 70 signatures.
“No human should be left in isolation and should be lost in any kind of system,” said Huerta. “We know that this is something that is across race, gender, and ethnicity. And something that we have been battling as a country for generations, right this systematic prejudice and destruction of communities of color, and now is the time for action. We can’t wait for the pedagogy to shift in our leadership. We have to take it upon ourselves as citizens on the ground to keep that empathy alive.”
