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Alien detention shut as ‘payoff’ probed
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Posted on Feb 02 1999
The Department of Labor and Immigration has shut down its detention for aliens facing deportation amid allegations of bribery surrounding the escape of four Chinese nationals last week, according to Secretary Mark D. Zachares.
The detainees are still at large after they fled the facility early last week allegedly with the aid of three immigration employees who were manning the detention.
Well-placed sources from the administration said yesterday the illegal aliens managed to break out after they allegedly paid an undetermined amount of money to detention guards.
Zachares, however, declined to comment on the payoff, saying an investigation into the escape incident, the first this year, is underway.
“I am not happy with the escape of the detainees,” Zachares said in a telephone interview, “Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, this should not be occurring.”
According to the labor and immigration chief, employees who will be proven involved in the escape “will be dealt with appropriately.”
In 1997 eight detainees broke out from the poorly-secured detention located in Koblerville by shattering window panes. No escapees have been recaptured by DOLI and none of the immigration officers on-duty at the time of the escape have been reprimanded.
Nine detainees, mostly Chinese, have been transferred Friday to the prison run by the Department of Public Safety until their repatriation in one to two weeks to the People’s Republic of China, Zachares said.
“We are shutting it down temporarily until we have hired corrections specialists and have trained our people to man the detention facility,” Zachares explained.
In a separate interview, Public Safety Commissioner Charles W. Ingram said the illegal aliens were being housed in the DPS jail compound in Susupe, but not with common prisoners.
“They have been segregated from the general population or inmates incarcerated by court orders. We’re temporarily holding them upon the request of DOLI,” according to Ingram.
To address complaints on the need to reinforce security of the immigration detention, Ingram said a facility intended for status offenders will be included in the planned multi-million-dollar expansion of the existing jail.
