The I.N.S. has not been able to assure decent conditions even in the centers under its control. In 1995 inmates at an I.N.S. detention center in Elizabeth, N.J., rioted over beatings and the use of shackles. Conditions in local jails are often far worse, and the I.N.S. cannot supervise them. Human Rights Watch has collected numerous allegations of beatings and other mistreatment. The I.N.S. has called for a government investigation of alleged torture of immigrants by electric shock in a Florida jail.
Immigrants often have no access to lawyers or even someone who speaks their language.
Worst off are the 1,800 people scheduled for deportations to countries that will not take them back, such as Cuba. They are jailed indefinitely, some for years. The main reason for I.N.S. detention is that the vast majority of people at risk of deportation skip their court dates and simply vanish, given the chance. The I.N.S. is beginning to study how to get people to keep their court appointments without locking them up. One pilot project run by the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit group, keeps immigrants who seem unlikely to flee out of jail if they check in regularly and receive home visits from supervisors.