INS DETAINEES REMOVED FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE JAIL AFTER ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE

Over 250 INS detainees have been removed from the Hillsborough County Jail in New Hampshire after allegations that some of the guards sexually abused female detainees.  If such conduct did in fact occur, it could result in the filing of rape charges against the guards because the guards’ position of power makes it impossible for a female inmate to consent.  The alleged incident is being investigated by the FBI and the US Attorney’s office.

According to Steve Farquharson, the District Director of the INS Boston Office, the detainees were removed at the request of the US Attorney in New Hampshire, who expressed concerns for their safety.  Hillsborough County officials say they were removed because the INS was delaying payments to the county for housing them.  The INS pays the jail a day to house the detainees.  This equals over million a year, more than half the jail’s budget. 

It also seems the removal of the detainees did not go smoothly.  When INS officials arrived to remove the female detainees, explaining that they were being removed for their safety during the pending investigation, the superintendent of the jail, James O’Mara, told the INS that it could take its “federal detainees and million and shove it.”  He then told the INS that they could not take the female detainees without also taking 50 men, and he would choose them, not the INS.  The INS had to call the state Attorney General to explain to O’Mara that what he wanted to do was illegal.  Even after this O’Mara continued to be uncooperative.  This is why the INS removed all of its detainees, because it “decided we no longer had confidence in the facility and its management.” 

Detainees have complained of their treatment at this facility before.  Last August, detainees went on a hunger strike, claiming they were denied needed medical treatment and locked in their cells for over 20 hours a day.  Further adding to the jail’s problems is the fact that the investigation into the charges of sexual abuse comes only days a state investigation into the recent death of an inmate began.