To handle the massive number of immigrants sentenced to prison for re-entering the country, private prisons have sprung up from Arizona to Texas, with little oversight in terms of sanitation and detainee treatment. The smell in the courtroom is overpowering. About 40 men and two women fill seven rows of benches in the special proceedings courtroom at the U.S. District Court in Tucson—fewer than the maximum of 70 who shuffle through here every weekday at 1:30 pm. Their ankles are shackled, the handcuffs on their wrists attached to chains around their waists. They look exhausted, confused, and ashamed. They range in age from 18 upwards, but the majority look no older than 25. Most of them are...
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