A new groundbreaking report by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture documents the harmful impact of imprisonment on the health and well being of asylum seekers. The report, "From Persecution to Prison: The Health Consequences of Detention for Asylum Seekers" is the first systematic and most comprehensive scientific study examining the health of detained asylum seekers. The study found that the mental health of interviewees was extremely poor and worsened the longer the individuals were in detention. High levels of anxiety, depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be attributed to the length of detention time and limited access to mental health services. Many of the study participants also believed that their physical health worsened while in detention. Those who ultimately received asylum spent on average 10 months in jail.
"Asylum seekers typically suffered tremendous indignities - torture, rape - at the hands of their own government," said Dr. Allen Keller, Founder and Director of the Bellevue/NYU Survivors of Torture Program, one of the authors. "We should be offering protection rather than making worse their already fragile state of health by indiscriminately detaining them."
The study participants, detained by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), many whom had been victims of torture, described disturbing encounters with INS officials. Grievances began with their arrival at US airports where they reported verbal abuse and often were not informed of their right to asylum. Some reported being mistreated during detention as well. Case after case reveals that the Department of Homeland Security's practice of imprisoning asylum seekers inflicts additional harm on an already traumatized population.
A total of 70 asylum seekers (56 men and 14 women) detained in two INS detention centers and 3 county jails in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania were interviewed for this study. The average age of study participants was 28 years (range 15-52). The majority of participants were from Africa (n=54, 77%) and included 16 African countries. Seven were from Eastern Europe, 4 from Asia, 3 from Latin America and 2 from the Middle East. The median length of detention at the time of the interview was 5 months.
One study participant from Africa, who had helplessly watched armed men kill his father and kidnap his sister, said, after having been imprisoned for six months before he was granted asylum, "When I came I never expected to be put in jail. They don't call it jail, they call it detention. But it is jail. I thought I would be free when I got to America. I came here to find peace and be able to live in peace."
Once transported to detention facilities, study participants reported feeling degraded because they were treated like criminals. Fifty-four percent reported experiencing verbal abuse while in INS detention. They were yelled at, sworn at, and called criminals and liars. The criminalization of asylum seekers exacerbated their psychological symptoms. One participant, beaten and raped in prison in her native country reported, "I have great fear, I feel like I'm reliving it at times. When I think about what happened to me- I feel the pain in my body again, like its happening to me ... to experience what I experienced before arriving to this country and then being put in prison, that added to my suffering."
Detainees also classified as abuse what they often perceived as threatening and arbitrary use of solitary confinement, generally referred to as segregation. In one facility, the segregation unit was commonly referred to as "the hole." For a person who is affected by post-traumatic stress, the prospect of solitary confinement can be especially fearsome.
The study also chronicled the inappropriate use of dental examinations to evaluate the age of asylum seekers. These tests, despite their questionable accuracy, have led to minors being sent to adult detention facilities. One young girl, who claimed to be 15 years old, said she was challenged and berated by the INS officers, "At the airport, they asked me where I was going? I said to my mother who was in Canada. They asked me who the passport belonged to and I said I didn't know. They asked me how old I was. I told them I was 15 -- a woman in uniform said I was lying. They told me "We're going to see if you're 15." Then they brought me to the dentist.
The report recommends several ways the US government should change its widespread practice of long term detention of asylum seekers which include:* Ensure Parole for Asylum Seekers/ Alternatives to Detention A uniform, national policy should be implemented where parole and supervised release is the norm. Adequate funding for alternatives to detention should be ensured. Detention should occur only in cases where the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) makes an individualized determination of the need to hold a specific person and should deliver the decision to each individual specifying the security concern or other reason for detention. When detention is deemed necessary, regular six-month reviews of the necessity of their continued detention should be required. * Ensure Adequate Safeguards at Points of Entry to Protect the Rights of Asylum Seekers. * Unaccompanied Minors Should Not Be in Detention and Dental and X-ray Examinations Should Not Be Used to Determine a Young Person's Age.* Treatment and Conditions Must Improve for Those Who are Detained. * Improve Access to and Quality of Health and Mental Health Services for Detained Asylum Seekers.
Based on the findings of this study, Bellevue/NYU and Physicians for Human Rights also recommend that the following measures be implemented to insure a humane immigration process:* Stop the expansion of immigration detention (such as measures like Operation Liberty Shield). * Improve access to legal services including legal rights presentations. * Fund "Know Your Rights" presentations sufficiently so they reach all detainees. * Give asylum seekers greater access to benefits accorded refugees. * Ensure that programs exist with adequate funding to meet the needs of torture victims, including those in detention as well as those released from detention.* Roll back the agreement with Canada restricting asylum seeker movement. * Implement, and not overrule immigration judges' decisions releasing asylum seekers and other immigrants on bond or parole. * Grant work authorization to asylum seekers paroled or otherwise released.
"One of the basic responsibilities of any government is to protect its people," said report author Doug Ford, Senior Researcher for Physicians for Human Rights. "The United States has the right and obligation to protect its people from attack, but this should not be at the expense of either health, human rights, international law or US due process standards."
Founded in 1986, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), based in Boston, MA, mobilizes the health professions to promote health by protecting human rights. PHR's Asylum Network of over 400 physicians, psychologists and social workers conduct pro bono medical and psychological evaluations of asylum seekers and provide expert testimony at their hearings. PHR was the lead coordinator of the development of The Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (The "Istanbul Protocol"), the first set of international guidelines for documentation of torture and its consequences. It became a United Nations official document in 1999. As a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.
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