New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill has more than doubled state funding for a program that provides free legal services for low-income immigrants facing deportation. She also announced a Rapid Legal Response Initiative that will provide immediate representation to immigrants jailed at Delaney Hall, the GEO Group’s for-profit ICE jail in Newark. At least 90 people have been arrested at protests outside Delaney Hall over the past two weeks, as prisoners inside hold a hunger strike to protest inhumane conditions while demanding their freedom. One letter from a prisoner, dated May 31, describes medical neglect, undrinkable water, expired and rancid food, unusable toilets and poor ventilation. The prisoner writes, “They constantly threaten to deport us, transfer us to punishment units, and move us from one detention center to another; they take photos of us in the dormitories without our consent and tell us that we have no rights here.”
Meanwhile, New Jersey prosecutors have charged an Essex County police sergeant of stealing about $10,000 worth of equipment from reporter Angelina Katsanis. The photojournalist dropped her camera bag and had to be hospitalized after she was attacked by police while covering a protest at Delaney Hall in May.