From Persecution to Prison - Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of ...

grants and convicted prisoners, at these criminal justice facilities shouldbenefit from the Detention Standards. 393 However, the point of the internationallegal norm is that asylum seekers should not be detained in acriminal justice setting at all, absent exceptional circumstances. Thesestandards do nothing to change the INS practice and its lack of compliancewith this international norm.Besides this major conceptual difference, specific standards in the internationaldocuments and the Detention Standards differ as well. The internationaldocuments make mental health an integral part of health care,while the Detention Standards relegate it to an adjunct by an outsideprovider when necessary. In addition, in contrast to the Detention Standards,international standards generally forbid the use of chains and irons.Moreover, the international standard requiring medical review beforeordering segregation is not mentioned in the Detention Standards.Finally, and significantly for the purposes of this study, the DetentionStandards do not reflect the recognition in international laws and standardsof asylum seekers’ vulnerability and likelihood of having experienced torture,and that detention can be harmful to the mental health and well beingof those detained. In fact, the Detention Standards frequently reference orincorporate standards and procedures developed for the punitive setting ofcriminal justice institutions. While the use of such standards is better thannone at all, it reflects the agency’s failure to recognize or appreciate thenon-criminal status and traumatic history of asylum seekers.393The INS Detention Standards do have standards on classification of inmates (ClassificationSystem Standard) that classify those with more seriously criminal convictions differentlythan others, such as asylum seekers. But they do not change the fact many asylum seekers aredetained side by side with convicted criminals.LEGAL STANDARDS 181