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FBI DECIDES NOT TO INVESTIGATE CONDITIONS AT NEW JERSEY DETENTION CENTER
In past issues, we have reported on several alleged abuses inflicted on detainees at the INS’ detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Following repeated claims of abusive treatment of detainees, the Justice Department recently called in the FBI to investigate a detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The facility is owned by the Corrections Corporation of America, the largest privately owned prison operator in the U.S., which contracts with the INS to provide detention space.
However, according to the Bergen, New Jersey Record, the FBI now says it will not proceed with an investigation into possible human rights abuses at the facility. When confronted with this news, The Record reports that the INS, who referred the allegations to the FBI, was not aware that the FBI had declined to investigate.
Since the accusations of beatings, verbal abuse and civil rights violations began in February, the chief of security at the facility has been fired, eight employees have been forbidden from going near detainees, and one guard has been fired for refusing to cooperate with the investigation. There are also suspicions of a cover-up involving withholding of and tampering with evidence. 
CCA maintains that no excessive force has been used at the facility, but Lorelei Valverde, the ranking INS official at the facility disagrees, saying CCA is "in denial" and expressing concern about the situation. CCA officials have stated that their own internal investigations have revealed no evidence of the use of excessive force by its employees and instead they have questioned the reliability of the detainees. 
Most of the men and women being held in detention in Elizabeth are asylum seekers who arrived at airports in New York City without proper documentation. Many have been at the facility for over two years because of the INS policy of detaining asylum seekers who arrive without documentation.