The T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas (on the outskirts of Austin, Texas) is a private detention facility operated by Corrections Corporation of America. It and a smaller center in Pennsylvania are the only two facilities in the country that are authorized to hold non-Mexican immigrant families and children on noncriminal charges.

That’s right, we are now imprisoning children, forcing them to wear jail uniforms and identity badges. Land of the Free.

Not to worry, though. The imprisoned children do get instruction daily; if you count one hour of English as actual instruction. They also get, out the goodness of Chertoff’s black heart, one half hour of recreational activity, indoors, daily.

Even infants have to wear identity badges. Home of the Brave.

Who is running these dens of horror?

The Taylor jail began holding immigrant families in the summer under a contract with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. It is owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America. Williamson County receives $1 per day for each inmate held there. A spokesman for the company referred questions to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s San Antonio office.

How many children do we have incarcerated?

“the Taylor jail houses about 400 people, including about 200 children. “

Why did Chertoff set up these jails that incarcerate children? Why, out of his deep concern for families that are sometimes split up when one or more adults is jailed, they are all jailed together.

Originally, the detention facilities were touted by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff as a way to keep families together while waiting for their cases to come up for court review.

Well, they are accomplishing that goal – to the exclusion of being allowed any outside contact with the rest of the world, aside from those who have lawyers.

The children are loosing weight and there are rampant psychological problems among the detainees, most of whom were seeking asylum in the US from nightmarish situations in their countries of origin before being tossed into US prison camps.

There will be a Christmas Eve Vigil at Hutto Children’s Jail “on Dec 24, from 5-6pm, across from the entrance of the Hutto prison camp. “

The intention of this vigil is therefore two fold. (1) To bring hope in during the Christmas holidays to children and their families in the Hutto and other prison camps throughout Texas and the United States and (2) to bring further local, state, national and international awareness to their plight.

I tried, I really tried to find some happy feel good stories since it is the season to be jolly. This is what the US has become: we put babies in jail.
One last thought: Michael Chertoff is a monster devoid of human compassion. Come to think of it, so is his boss, who reminded us all a few days ago to go shopping.

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