8-21-09, 9:12 am

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 19 (acn) Most of the 104 detainees who have died in US immigration jails since October 2003 are Cubans, The New York Times reported recently, but failed to explain why.

According to CubaDebate website, the American newspaper said the names of the deceased are included in the so-called death's list made up by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The New York Times report added that more than 10 percent of the inmates who have died under immigration custody during the past six years do not appear on the official list that was delivered to the US Congress this year.

There are more than 32,000 illegal immigrants imprisoned in the US in federal, state and even in private jails waiting to be deported.

In 2008, more than 407,000 people were held under the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has refused to give specific information about the treatment of prisoners and the names of the deceased.

In statements to CubaDebate via telephone from Washington, Cuban-American attorney Jose Pertierra said: “US immigration’s prison system is a failed system.”

“It is very hard to obtain information about the prisoners and we have to appeal to the long and complicated procedures of the Freedom of Information Act to be able to unveil the secrets behind jails’ walls,” said the immigration lawyer.

Meanwhile, The New York Times noted that many of the prisons where immigrants and people who do not have identity papers are kept, belong to private companies, which set their own rules and added that some of them are not even included in the list of immigration penitentiaries.

“Prisons should be run by the State, and not by private business owners. This is the only way we can make sure that jailers can be held responsible for the treatment they give to inmates,” said Pertierra.

“The goal should be to make justice rather than making profit,” he concluded.

From the Cuban News Agency