Essex County Installs Restrooms For Visitors At ICE Detention Center

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Never underestimate the value of a public bathroom, some say.

Essex County officials announced Tuesday that they are installing an enclosed tent and four portable restrooms for visitors at Delaney Hall in Newark. They will be located in the southern section of the visitors’ parking lot of the Essex County Correctional Facility, which is close to the entrance to Delaney Hall.

“While we are not involved with Delaney Hall, I thought it was prudent to provide the tent and portable facilities so visitors could be treated with dignity and have some protection from the elements during the cold weather,” Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said.

The 1,000-bed prison – which used to serve as a halfway house – is the first federal detention center to open under President Donald Trump’s second term. Its owner, the GEO Group – one of the largest private prison companies in the nation – was awarded a 15-year contract that it valued at $1 billion to run the new detention center last year.

Delaney Hall has seen a wave of controversy since then, including several arrests involving pro-immigration demonstrators, federal charges against the city’s mayor and a U.S. congresswoman, a high-profile prison escape, and a detainee who died in federal custody.

Among other complaints, local activists have been raising red flags about “inhumane” conditions that visitors to the prison have been experiencing. Visitors say they have been forced to stand outside on a shadeless sidewalk last summer amid scorching temperatures in one of the state’s worst “urban heat islands,” and kept waiting outside in a torrential storm near a metal fence last fall.

Local advocacy groups say they have been helping visitors cope with the extreme weather by giving them umbrellas, water and shade in the summer. Activists also set up a play area for children, have been handing out grocery gift cards to families without a breadwinner, and are providing shoes and clothes if visitors can’t meet the prison’s dress code.

• See Related: Pro-Immigrant Protests Continue Outside ICE Detention Center In NJ

A canopy was eventually installed for visitors, but didn't get a warm reception from many advocates, including U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who called it "offensive" in light of the revenue that the GEO Group is getting to run the facility.

Currently, visitors have been struggling with icy temperatures and snow. Advocates alleged that the GEO Group plowed part of its driveway during a recent snowstorm, but did not shovel the area where they make visitors wait.

“GEO employees would not allow volunteers or visitors to shovel the waiting area either,” Pax Christi NJ reported. “So, on top of being forced to wait outside, visitors had to stand in several inches of snow. After being trampled under foot by dozens of people, the snow turned to ice. The City of Newark did not plow Doremus Avenue until late afternoon, and Essex County would not let anyone park in the empty lot they have available next door. People had to park in snow and wade through slush.”

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Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill said the new tent and restrooms being installed this week will make a real difference for visitors and volunteers.

“For months, my commissioner colleagues and I urged the county to move forward with practical, immediate solutions,” Gill said. “This progress reflects the power of sustained advocacy and community pressure, as well as the voices of families and community members who refused to be ignored.”

“It shows what is possible when people demand better from their government,” Gill said.

However, it’s just the beginning, he said – adding that the end goal is “shutting down Delaney Hall.”

Organizers with Eyes on ICE NJ – a coalition that has been pushing for change at the prison – said the new tent and bathrooms will offer some much-needed relief for as many as 300 visitors on any given day. But much more needs to be done, activists added.

“Up to 100 visitors at a time are concentrated in and around an outdoor shed without protection from the elements or access to indoor bathrooms or diaper-changing stations,” a spokesperson told Patch.

“Disabled visitors do not have access to ADA-compliant wheelchair ramps, parking or seating areas, which violates state and federal laws,” the group continued. “Children and the elderly, who are both at-risk in the extreme heat and cold, are forced to adapt to the weather or risk losing their place in line.”

Meanwhile, visitors are also forced to park illegally along a four-lane road heavily trafficked by trucks coming to and from the port. They are often blocked from parking in the under-utilized visitors lot for the Essex County Correctional Facility, activists say.

ICE maintains a list of visitation regulations for Delaney Hall on its website, including a dress code for men and women 12 and up. Other rules include:

• “A maximum of four individuals may visit at any one time”
• “Any disruptive behavior by either party will result in the termination of the visit and may cause future visits to be denied”
• “Legal representatives of detainees are authorized to visit their clients in person during the following hours (Monday to Saturday: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday: 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.)”
• “Clergy may visit detainees at any time but must make prior arrangements with the Chaplain’s Office”
• “If visitors are or appear to be intoxicated, visitation will not be allowed”
• “All visitors are subject to search while in the facility”

PRISON CONDITIONS

Some immigration advocates and local officials have claimed that conditions inside the prison are getting “increasingly more concerning,” with reports allegedly including lockdowns that last for days, verbal abuse from guards, inaccessible commissary funds and blocked phone numbers.

Other complaints have included claims of bad food and subpar access to medical care – allegations that the GEO Group has denied.

“We remain dedicated to providing high-quality services to those in our care, including include around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation, general and legal library access, translation services, dietician-approved meals, religious and specialty diets, recreational amenities, and opportunities to practice their religious beliefs,” a spokesperson previously told Patch.

All of the company’s ICE processing centers are independently accredited by the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, the GEO Group website states.

Some Republican politicians – including U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew – have claimed that detainees at the controversial facility are being “treated with dignity” and are being housed in a place that “exceeds the standards of many of our own U.S. prisons.”

These assurances haven't stopped the complaints from advocates and local officials, however.

Some elected officials who have expressed concern about Delaney Hall include New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, and Assemblywomen Eliana Pintor Marin and Shanique Speight.

“You should be ashamed of this facility and the treatment of those being detained here,” several members of the Essex County Board of Commissioners wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem last October.

“The detainees of Delaney Hall deserve to be treated with dignity and respect as they await a trial, not treated inhumanely,” the commissioners urged.

ESSEX COUNTY AND ICE

Essex County contracted with ICE for years before President Donald Trump took office for his second term, making millions of dollars for holding federal detainees at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark.

In 2018, nonprofit advocacy group Human Rights First alleged that conditions were “inhumane” for detainees at three prisons in New Jersey: the Essex County Correctional Facility, the Hudson County Correctional Facility, and the Elizabeth Detention Facility.

Alleged issues at the jails included maggot-infested food, suicide risks, a lack of clean underwear and medical treatment done on a “cost-benefit analysis.”

• See Related: Jail Served Us Meatballs That Smelled Like Feces, NJ Inmate Says
• See Related: Essex County Jail Stuck ICE Detainees With Giant Underwear, Feds Say

In 2021 – after years of protests from immigration advocates – Essex County cut its ties with ICE, opting not to renew its contract. It was a decision praised by many immigration advocates, although others pointed out that officials planned to replace the departing ICE detainees with hundreds of prisoners from nearby Union County.

>> READ MORE: Long-Awaited Review Gives Deep Look Into NJ's Largest County Prison

Although the focus on federal immigration enforcement has ramped up since Trump took office, large-scale ICE raids also took place in New Jersey during President Joe Biden’s term.

The agency’s Newark field office processes federal detainees from across the state. A major immigration sweep took place in North Jersey the week before Trump’s inauguration, with ICE’s Newark field office arresting 33 non-citizens who have committed or been accused of crimes.

• Read More: ICE In NJ Deported 500 People From Country In 3 Months, Feds Say

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