Tacoma SDS

A critical overview of the development and expansion of GEO Group's immigrant detention center in Tacoma, Washington by Tim Smith.

This is a link to the companion slideshow for the 4-Part KUOW Radio Special Between Worlds/Behind Bars airing next week. Transcipts available too.

The slideshow reveals for the first time a complete internal diagram of the Northwest Detention Center.

The following is an email exchange with the Pierce County Health Department about the current influenza outbreak at the NWDC:

Mr. Turner,

Thank you for the prompt reply. We are aware of the role of the Public Health Service and understand their difficult task in protecting the health of all that are impacted by this event. A special concern is noted because in prior instances of health situations at the facility (Measles and food-borne illness) a general lack of candor was exhibited by those responsible.

The following expose of the riots at the GEO Group Inc private prison in Pecos Texas, provides insight onto the failure of the private prison industry. A similar riot occured at the GEO run NWDC in Tacoma, Wa on 10 Aug 2009 when detainees complained about poor food conditions. The kitchen had been closed as part of an ongoing $40 million expansion and basic food quality deteriorated. At the same time, GEO Group raised prices in the commissary. The disturbance was put down by GEO guards using OC spray, impact rounds, and rubber stinger bullets fired from 37mm grenade launchers.

Mexico-born Jose J. Cervantes-Corona was 42 when he died at the Northwest Detention Center 21 months ago. We never heard about it, but his death at the Tacoma tideflats facility is now suspected of having been preventable.

Cervantes-Corona is named in recently released and published documents showing how many "detainees" have died in U.S. immigration prisons: The New York Times last week reported that 66 names are listed in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data from 2004 to 2007, while the Washington Post this week reported 83 have died between 2003 and 2008.

In 1907, more than two hundred South Asian migrant workers in Bellingham were attacked by a mob of white workers. In the course of one night, an entire community was driven from the town - in the approving words of a local paper, "wiped off the map". One hundred years later in 2007, hostility toward immigrants of color in Bellingham continues. Raids and detentions by government immigration agents are ongoing: so are surveillance and harassment from both government agents and groups like the minutemen. How have the events of 1907 shaped Bellingham as we know it in 2007?

November 9th & 10th-Shut Down Downtown Tacoma

Smash Tacoma ICE