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

Correctional Facility in 2000. “[W]e conclude that certain conditions atJCCF violate the constitutional rights of convicted inmates anddetainees,” the Division said of deficiencies in health care and other areas.A 1998 report by Human Rights Watch found substandard medical careand that mental health needs were not met. 106Medical researchers have also noted a link between asylum seekers,trauma, poor mental health and detention. In August 2000, psychiatristDerrick Silove, a researcher with years of refugee experience, observedextensive trauma exposure and “prima facie evidence of substantialpsychological morbidity” among asylum groups in several recipient countries.107 Restrictions on access to health care and social services appear tobe associated with deteriorating physical and mental health. Detentionmay be a powerful contributor to psychological distress in asylum seekers.108 “Long-term detention under harsh prison-like conditions is theantithesis of the conditions of support and stability that trauma survivorsneed in order to achieve stability,” according to Silove. 109Another growing problem has been an increasing number of INSdetainees in apparently indefinite detention — usually detainees who arerequired to be deported under the new immigration law but whose homecountries, such as Cuba, Vietnam and Iraq, refuse to take them back. A USSupreme Court ruling in the summer of 2001 should have provided eventualrelief for some asylum seekers. In Zadvydas vs Davis, the Court forbadeindefinite detention for those immigrants who have entered thecountry and then are ordered removed or deported but have no countrythat will accept them. 110 However, the US Department of Justice has interpretedthis decision as not covering asylum seekers who are detained,because, in this interpretation, the asylum seekers have not legally enteredthe US, although they are physically inside its borders. 111Changes Since September 11, 2001The US government’s response to critical security issues raised by the September11, 2001 tragedy has caused additional hurdles for asylees facingan already restrictive system. Shortly after September 11, the government106Human Rights Watch, Locked Away, Summary and Recommendations107“Policies of Deterrence and the Mental Health of Asylum Seekers,” Silove et al, Journal ofthe American Medical Association, Aug.2 2000, Vol 284, No.5, p. 606 (Asylum MentalHealth, JAMA)108Asylum Mental Health, JAMA, at p. 608,610109Hargreaves, S. “A body of evidence: torture among asylum seekers to the West,” TheLancet, March 2, 2002, Vol. 359, p.793-794.110Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 US 690 ; 121 S. Ct. 2491 (2001).11166 Fed. Reg. 56967, INS No. 2156-01; AG Order No. 2533-2001, “Continued Detentionof Aliens Subject to Final Orders of Removal,” Nov. 14, 2001.38 FROM PERSECUTION TO PRISON