The Northwest Detention Center - and how you can support those inside
A PowerPoint Presentation with Lori Alward
Monday, September 14, 7:00 - 9:00pm
Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation
2200 East End Street NW, Olympia
(Free and open to the public)
Located on a Superfund site on the Tacoma tideflats, the NWDC is a prison which holds people awaiting hearings on immigration-related charges and/or potential deportation. Privately-owned and operated by The GEO Group Inc. (formerly Wackenhut), it can hold about 1,000 inmates; a 50% expansion will be completed by October 2009. The average stay of detainees is 33 days, but a significant minority remain locked up for months or even years. Some people detained in the NWDC were born here and/or are US citizens. A recent study by the Seattle University School of Law and OneAmerica reported that conditions at the Tacoma facility violate both international and domestic laws that grant detained immigrants the right to food, due process and humane treatment.
Lori Alward, Education Coordinator at Tacoma Community House, is the head of the Education Committee of the NWDC Roundtable, a consortium of over thirty organizations—including activist, health care, higher education, law enforcement, legal, political representative, religious, and social service organizations. She will show a PowerPoint presentation and talk about the Roundtable's work with detainees. Find out how you can support those inside.
Sponsored by the Social Justice Committee of the Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation and Bridges Not Walls.
For more info, email: mailto:green-girl@comcast.net
