Immigration protestors call on state leaders to ban private prisons

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE): The group Never Again Action, a Jewish advocacy group, spoke out at the State House demanding that the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility be shut down. This comes after a correctional officer drove into a crowd of protestors on Wednesday. 

“Without warning, they pepper-sprayed us,” one of the protestors said. “I dropped to the ground and covered my face before I ran from the uniformed men. I was terrified.” 

Mayor Jorge Elorza was at the State House and gave protestors his full support in closing down the facility. 

“No one can say that the staff itself is living up to their own standards,” Elorza said. “We cannot stay silent and allow them to continue to happen.” 

Organizers for Never Again Action called on the state to pass legislation banning private prisons in Rhode Island. 

“We believe it is possible for the state to take over and end the violence that is happening in our backyard,” Aaron Rudenberg, an organizer, said. “The Wyatt Detention Center is a creature of the state statute. It exists as a legal entity through state law. We believe that means, it is possible through legislation to shut it down and end the contract with ICE.”

Despite this, a spokesperson for the Wyatt Detention Facility said they do not classify the facility as a private prison. They consider the facility a non-profit quasi-public facility. 

The Centra Falls Detention Facility Corporation oversees Wyatt. Its board members are appointed by the mayor of Central Falls.