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Families for Freedom
Prisoner's rights RESOURCES
About Malik
Coordinator of KHA
Press Releases
Latest Release!
National Immigration
Project Inquires into Death of Immigrant Detainee March 2, 2005
Media Coverage
Monitoring Info & Detainee Letters
Information and reports on detention centers.
Background Info
(Litigation)
Individual & class action suits that are currently in the courts.
Self Help Materials
Please check back later on! We will be adding
items to this section in the weeks to come. In the meantime, you may find
it helpful to review a copy of
standards for detention law libraries issued by the Department of Homeland
Security (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
Keeping Hope Alive (KHA) provides back-up support to immigration prisoners across the U.S. It assists detainees and their families in investigating, documenting, and taking action against abuses perpetrated in federal facilities and county jails. KHA aims to create accountability where there is none, to improve access to desperately needed legal resources, and to bring national attention to human rights abuses in the detention industry.
KHA is coordinated by Alexander (Malik) Ndaula, a South African national and former detainee. Malik fled to the U.S. at the age of twelve after the assassination of his parents, who were outspoken members of the anti-apartheid movement. After spending several years in the U.S. without securing political asylum he was eventually detained by the immigration system after serving time for a petty misdemeanor. He secured his release from the immigration system in May 2004 by litigating his own case.
KHA is currently stationed at the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild with grant support from the Open Society Institute. Dan Kesselbrenner, Director of the National Immigration Project, is helping to guide the legal support that is being provided through KHA. Several chapters of the ACLU are also supporting KHA's activities to monitor and respond to human rights abuses in immigration detention centers.
Current activities of Keeping Hope Alive include:
For a more info you can also check out this article from the Prisons Almanac 2005, published by the Prisons Foundation.
I am a former detainee and
jailhouse lawyer. I spent three years in immigration custody.
We were forced to
do our own legal work and advocate for one another. Many of us
became legal
minds and experts the hard way. I worked hard every day and night,
continuously
corresponding with advocacy and human rights organizations, and even
litigating
to expose the unfair treatment of immigration prisoners. I helped many
individuals
secure their freedom before attaining my own in May 2004. I made a
pledge not only to
myself, but to the over 1 million immigrants deported since
the 1996 laws and the 30,000
held in various prisons daily including their
families, that the day I regained my freedom
I would work to step up the fight
for fairness and social justice for us all. Thus, the proposal
to form this
project ’Keeping Hope Alive. Since my release, I became an active member
of
the New York area immigrant rights project
Families For Freedom.
I also began doing volunteer
work at the
National Immigration
Project of the National Lawyers Guild, which is now my fulltime
place of employment and the current home of Keeping Hope Alive.
You can contact me at 617 227 9727 ext 8 or email alexander@nationalimmigrationproject.org.
Updates & Events
2/11/05 Mailing books to detainees at the Etowah County Jail (Gadsen, Alabama) next week! This is the beginning of our effort to improve the quality of the legal resources in detention center law libraries. All of the books for this mailing have been donated by the National Immigration Project and the Law Office of Norton Tooby. In the months ahead, we're going to be sending mailings to facilities in California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
2/18/05 Report of detainee death at Wicomico County detention center. This past week, we received news of the death of a detainee at Wicomico County Detention Center (MD) which occured on November 1, 2004. Although there has been some exposure of this incident in the local press, there has been no inquiry into the possibility of death due to medical negligence--which our sources indicate may be a possibility. We are preparing to submit an inquiry to officials at Wicomico County Detention Center on the circumstances surrounding this event. Watch for updates (and press releases) on this in the weeks ahead.
National Immigration Project Inquires into Death of Immigrant Detainee March 2, 2005
Voices from Immigration Detention Centers February 17, 2005
ACLU and National Immigration Project team up to monitor allegations of human rights abuses in immigrant detention facilities January 26, 2005
Five detainees suspected of being punished for exercising their legal rights - Visiting legal team asks questions of Etowah county jail officials. November 22, 2004
Holding the Immigration System Accountable - A former detainee fights to expose abusive treatment in immigration detention centers October 18, 2004
On Wednesday, March 2, Malik will be interviewed on a noon call-in radio show, "A Public Affair" on WORT, 89.9 FM 12-1pm in Madison, Wisconsin. The show will also be broadcast via shortwave and the internet via Peace International.
Monitoring Info & Detainee Letters
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is preparing to inspect the following facilities (some are already in the process of being inspected). Of these facilities, Keeping Hope Alive is conducting its own independent monitoring of San Diego CCA, Berks County Prison, and Etowah County Detention Center (in bold). Detainee letters and KHA reports of monitoring activities in these facilities will be posted in the weeks to come. Click here for detainee letters.
San Diego CCA (California)
Berks County Prison (Pennsylvania)
Hudson County Jail (New Jersey)
Passaic County Jail (New Jersey)
Krome SPC (Miami)
Northwest Detention Center (Washington)
El Paso SPC (Texas)
Etowah County Detention Center (Alabama)
Pamunkey Regional Jail (Virginia)
Bristol County House of Corrections (Massachusetts)
Background Info on Individual & Class Action Suits
Brown et. al. v. Ridge et. al.
A class action suit being brought forward by several current and former
detainees which is currently sitting in the Western Louisiana District Court.
Malik Ndaula is a plaintiff on this case, and the primary person guiding the
litigation of the case. See the January 31 press release,
New
Life for Class Action Suits Alleging Systemic Abuse of NonCitizen Detainees,
for current info on the status of this case.
Detainee Group Complaint (Concordia Parish Correctional Facility) - The original complaint on which the class action is based.
A letter from
Patrick Brown, the primary plaintiff in the class action suit (Feb 2,
2005)
Abimbola et. al. v. Robinson et. al.
A class action suit being brought forward by several current and former
detainees which is currently sitting in the Northern Alabama District Court.
Malik Ndaula is also a plaintiff on this case. Many of the other plaintiffs for
this suit are currently being held in the Etowah County Jail. Visit the
link below for an overview of their grievances, which are being addressed by the
Abimbola suit. Also, see the January 31 press release,
New
Life for Class Action Suits Alleging Systemic Abuse of NonCitizen Detainees
for current info on the status of this case.
Allegations
of Mistreatment from Immigration Detainees in Etowah County Detention Center -
prepared by Mark Dow
Ndaula v. Holliday et. al.
(info will be posted soon)
This is a personal suit that Malik is bringing against the prison administrator
and guards that participated in brutalizing him while he was being held in the
Etowah County Jail. See the October 18, 2004 press release
Holding the Immigration System Accountable for info on this event.
Please check back later on! We will be adding items to this section in the weeks to come. In the meantime, you may find it helpful to review a copy of standards for detention law libraries issued by the Department of Homeland Security (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).