An Associated Press story has brought to light that about 1,500 immigrant detainees are held at the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield. It’s one of eight jails in the state to house immigrants.
The Winn Parish Sheriff’s Department runs the facility and Sheriff Cranford Jordan says they started detaining migrants in May and they have the room for them, because the state has fewer prisoners because of the criminal justice reform package approved in 2017.
“The contact with ICE made the prison stable having a contract signed for five years to hold these detainees. With the reinvestment program in the state, the number of state inmates has decreased,” said Jordan.
The detainees are all men, ages 18 plus, and are being kept separate from prisoners.
Jordan says the contract with ICE has pumped an additional 35 to 40-million dollars into the local economy as the 275 employees at the prison have seen their hourly wage nearly double.
“The pay for the guards went from $10 an hour to $18.44 and they also receive free hospitalization now,” said Jordan.
Some immigration activists say that having the facility so far from other border operations makes it harder for immigrants to obtain immigration legal services. Jordan says they have eight courtrooms and attorneys are coming in from out of town to assist.
“The judges hear the cases by video conferencing from New Mexico and as the cases are decided, it’s a processing center, so they bring them in, process them, then they send them out, whatever the judge’s decision is,” said Jordan.
