Kevin Yourdkhani is one of over 200 children, including infants and toddlers, detained at the T. Don Hutto Family Jail, a for-profit private prison run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Due to public pressure, Kevin was released, but many others remain detained.
Several of the families detained at Hutto are asylum seekers . None face criminal charges. Some families were arrested at various ports of entry and others were taken from their homes.
At Hutto, children and their parents are housed in "pods" that are made up of cells with two metal bunk beds and a toilet. Everyone is made to wear prison-like uniforms and until recently, they were only provided with one hour of education and one hour of recreation per day.Guards often threaten to separate children from their mother as punishment for violating rules by playing too loudly or fighting with siblings.The conditions at this facility are sub-standard and violate the basic human rights of the individuals detained there.
Thanks to community pressure, several improvements to the facility have been made, but no change in appearance can take away from the fact that this facility continues to remain a prison.
Jailing migrant and refugee families for profit is wrong and immoral and expands their vulnerability to increased trauma and hardship.
Hutto protest