danivon wrote:

Doctor Fate wrote:I know we often had prisoners with immigration holds, but we did not place them.

Please clarify for me what this means. Are you saying that in the past, law enforcement at a state/local level did not always ensure that illegal immigrants were deported?

No, sorry to confuse you.

A "hold" was just an electronic note that an inmate was not to be released on his release date. Typically, they are released within 24 hours of the release date (assuming no overcrowding). However, an INS (now ICE) hold would mean we would keep them in custody until the Feds picked them up--usually very rapidly rather than pay us for housing them.

The holds were placed by the Feds, not us.

In this case, obviously, the local authorities did this. If the facts are as you've laid them out, I think she has a great case. "Bad faith" is not going to play well with a jury so all involved are going to be in a world of hurt. That alone should restrain government.

I thought that the US used more stringent measures than hoping that a jury would take the 'right' path?

This seems more like a flaw than anything else--something that needs to be tweaked. If the facts are as you set them out, the local authorities acted with a stunning lack of commons sense.

I'm also confident new guidelines will be promulgated to prevent that (different situation, but the Rodney King beating changed many policies--local governments don't like losing millions of dollars in lawsuits).

Certainly litigation can often be a more effective change to behaviours than statute law. Of course, it does appear that Maripoca is a bit of a maverick county when it comes to law enforcement.

In some ways, but I would argue that some of the things they have done actually deter crime. You have no idea how much pink offends the sensibilities of inmates, for example.

The problem with too many of our penal systems (California, for example) make imprisonment an "alternative lifestyle." So many guys just didn't care because jail wasn't so bad.

I'm not suggesting we turn into Mexico, but it's just a bit too nice for men of a certain mentality.

Doctor Fate wrote:

danivon wrote:

Doctor Fate wrote:I know we often had prisoners with immigration holds, but we did not place them.

Please clarify for me what this means. Are you saying that in the past, law enforcement at a state/local level did not always ensure that illegal immigrants were deported?

No, sorry to confuse you.

Ah right. However, the links you provided seemed to indicate that there was a problem with government at a lower level than the Federal in terms of enforcing the laws.

In some ways, but I would argue that some of the things they have done actually deter crime. You have no idea how much pink offends the sensibilities of inmates, for example.

Pink uniforms was not what I was thinking about, frankly.