From the #ShutDownBerks Coalition (https://www.facebook.com/ShutDownBerksCoalition/):
In 2019 the Berks County Detention Center (BCRC) will be entering its fifth year in operation as an immigrant family prison. That is five years of human rights abuses, due process violations, disregard of Pennsylvania and Federal law and the immoral and unjust treatment of immigrant families. The Shut Down Berks Coalition will continue to fight until this inhumane prison is shut down and family detention is put to an end in Pennsylvania.
Governor Tom Wolf, Lt. Governor John Fetterman and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services have the power to issue an Emergency Removal Order (ERO) on the Berks County Detention Center, an action that would ensure the facility can no longer be used as a prison. It is not only their moral obligation to keep families out of this prison but their legal responsibility.
The evidence of abuse and neglect at the BCRC is overwhelming, in addition, the mere act of incarcerating children and families is abusive in and of itself. Groups like the American Pediatric Society, the Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the International Detention Coalition, have done extensive research, and have concluded that even a short period in detention, for a child, has long-lasting mental and physical health effects.
Berks county residents have shared with the state time and time again that they do not want a family prison in their county, instead they prefer that the facility be used as a drug treatment center. Governor Wolf has made the elimination of opioid abuse in Pennsylvania a major priority of his administration. In December of 2018, he accepted a $10 million grant from Michael Bloomberg to fight the opioid addiction epidemic. After issuing an ERO to stop the use of the facility as a prison for immigrant families, the Governor should make use of these funds to convert this prison into a drug treatment facility.
Lt. Governor Fetterman campaigned to Shut Down Berks. Governor Wolf continues to make the opioid epidemic his top priority as well as criminal justice reform and the welfare of children. With both ready to lead the state for the next four years there is absolutely no reason for the administration to not take action. Pennsylvania needs human services, not human rights violations.
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