INS Issues New Detention Standards

IMMIGRATION LAW & POLICY

Arrest and Detention

INS ISSUES NEW DETENTION STANDARDS
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 14, No. 7, Nov. 28, 2000

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has issued new detention standards that apply to all Service Processing Centers run by the agency, all contract detention facilities, and all state or local government facilities used by the INS under intergovernmental agreements to hold detainees for more than 72 hours. The new standards expand upon the detention standards that the INS released in January 1998. Most importantly, whereas the 1998 standards applied only to the agency's service processing centers and certain contract facilities, the new standards apply to all INS detention except for children's shelter care facilities or detention centers (see "INS Issues National Detention Standards," IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS UPDATE," Mar. 24, 1998, p. 3). The new standards cover 36 topics, including access to legal materials, telephone access, group legal presentations on legal rights, visitation, medical care, and security issues. They will take effect at INS-owned facilities in January 2001. In contract facilities and in state and local facilities, the INS will phase in the new standards over a two-year period under arrangements known as "intergovernmental service agreements." The standards are available on the INS website at www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/.