Archinect - News

Private prisons, including ICE detention centers, are now illegal in California

2019-09-17T12:33:00-04:00

The recently passed AB-32 bill in California prevents the state from "entering into or renewing a contract with a private, for-profit prison to incarcerate state prison inmates, but would not prohibit the department from renewing or extending a contract to house state prison inmates in order to comply with any court-ordered population cap," according to the legislative text.

Under the bill, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations will phase-out the department's existing contracts by 2028.The bill, once signed by California Governor Gavin Newson, is set to go into effect on January 1, 2020.

The Guardian reports that move would close all four of the state's Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, which are run by private prison company GEO Group. The news comes as debate within the architectural profession intensifies regarding the moral and ethical implications of designing such facilities. The private prison business is booming under Pres...

The Architecture Lobby: Boycott the design of immigration detention and deterrence infrastructure

2019-07-31T13:44:00-04:00

The Architecture Lobby and ADPSR call on all design professionals to refuse to participate in the design and construction of any immigration detention and deterrence infrastructure, including but not limited to walls, Border Patrol Stations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices, detention facilities, or juvenile holding centers.

The Architecture Lobby (TAL) and Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR) are calling on designers to boycott any efforts to design and construct infrastructure related to the immigration detention and deterrence.

In a statement announcing their efforts, the two organizations write, "[TAL and ADPSR] continue to condemn the current administration’s assault on immigrant rights. These violent and racist policies are designed to cause fear and chaos; target those seeking asylum and refuge; and weaponize the built environment against immigrants."

Instead of helping design detention centers and border walls, the groups call on individual designers, groups of architectural workers, design students, and entire firms to organize against the unjust policies and practices they are being asked to support and perpetuate through their work. That includes speaking out against cruel immigration policies directly to local representatives, refusing to participate in the desig...

American Institute of Architects denounces "misuse" of detention center buildings

2019-07-22T16:41:00-04:00

The American Institute of Architect (AIA) has issued a statement denouncing the inhumane conditions that have been discovered over recent weeks across the country at the detention centers where undocumented immigrants and asylum-seekers are being detained.

The conditions as described by numerous media reports and congressional fact-finding missions to detention facilities make clear that these buildings are not designed to handle the sheer numbers of people in them nor do they sustain the health, safety, and welfare of their occupants, many of whom are women and children. Above all, the misuse of these buildings and the impact on occupants in them are contrary to our values as architects and as Americans.

Pointing to the organization's Code of Ethics, AIA urges that "the built environment promotes and preserves the health, safety, and welfare of every individual, and fosters universal respect for human dignity."

In addition, AIA argues that architects are well-prepared to "promote t...

Under Trump, the private prison business is booming

2019-07-15T15:55:00-04:00

In the 2018 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 396,448 people were booked into an ICE detention facility, up 22.5% from a year earlier, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Between October and January, apprehensions along the southwest border rose to 201,497, up a third from the same period a year ago.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the private prison business is booming as a result of the hardline immigration policies of President Donald Trump.

Despite the growing controversies surrounding the government's treatment of detained migrants in increasingly makeshift and inadequate facilities, the industry's growth is expected to continue.

According to WSJ, in a recent research note surveying the business dealings of private prison companies CoreCivic and GEO Group, investment bank SunTust Robinson Humphrey writes, "We expect criminal alien populations housed by the private sector to increase due to heightened enforcement and increased border apprehensions.”

WSJ also writes that over the last year, with new facilities going up from California to Mississippi, private prison companies have fared better financially than many other industries, even amid an overall market rally.

Amid "concentration camp" debate, government moves migrants from Texas border site

2019-06-24T17:07:00-04:00

After the discovery of inhumane living conditions at a south Texas temporary detention facility made headlines last week, the United States Department of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has moved to relocate upwards of 300 detained migrant children to other sites.

The Associated Press reported last week that while lawyers with the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of California, Davis inspected the facility to assess the detention conditions at the site, they discovered children caring for other children, children who had not bathed in days, inadequate food provisions, and a collection of other standard of living violations.

Holly Cooper, co-director of the University of California, Davis’ Immigration Law Clinic, told the AP, “In my 22 years of doing visits with children in detention, I have never heard of this level of inhumanity."

According to the AP, the government allows for the children to be held by the Border Patrol for no longer than 72 hours, after which they must b...