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| York County Prison Inmates Decry Conditions |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/03/2003 |
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Some inmates at York County Prison say they don't get enough to eat and have substandard medical care, allegations that come as the county is looking to extend its contract to house U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service detainees and which the warden calls 'whining.' 'We freeze at night and through the day,' Angel Bohorquez, 40, said this week. 'There is no hot water to cook with. ... They do not feed us enough.' Bohorquez, who has been in detention 18 months, said that without his janitorial job, he would not have money to buy food at the canteen and would go hungry as many prisoners do, Bohorquez said. Bohorquez, who served time for theft and forgery during his 31 years in the United States, said he wants out -- even if it means deportation to his home country of Columbia, where he fears he would be killed for having served in the U.S. Army. Hogan said the menus are created by a dietitian and approved by a physician, and added that the medical treatment prisoners meets correctional standards. 'It amounts to whining,' the warden said. 'If we lose this contract, they could end up in Louisiana. It would be a lot worse there than here.' Mohamed Ashour, 34, of Egypt, is an asylum seeker who has spent seven months at the prison. He said inmates get more food when INS officials visit. 'I have not had any fresh fruit in seven months. I am afraid of malnutrition,' Ashour said. 'We hope the INS does not renew the contract because of the treatment here.' However, some immigrant advocates said York is the right place for the INS to house prisoners because of its location and access to immigration lawyers and advocates. The INS holds people in prisons throughout the country, including private prisons in Louisiana. 'I have always maintained that prison is not the appropriate place for asylum seekers,' Kathleen Lucas of CIRCLE, an immigration advocacy group in York, said Tuesday. 'If they are going to be imprisoned, I would rather have them in the York County Prison, where legal services are available to them and folks in the community can visit them.' Immigration attorney Daniel Pell said York is close to East Coast airports and has space dedicated for two immigration judges, their staffs and a courtroom -- amenities are not provided elsewhere. Any relocation of about 800 immigrants from the county prison could cost the INS millions of dollars, Pell said. |
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It is inspiring to read how this website shows empathy to inmates and prison guards and their shared story. If you want to read more about how empathy affects your world, read Hamilton Lindley blog where he discusses the importance of being empathetic.