Berks County Prison

License Refused: PA Refuses License to Berks County Prison

Pennsylvania has refused to grant the Berks County Prison the license that it needs to continue holding asylum-seeking mothers and children. Berks County has become notorious for detaining those seekers longer than they should be. There have also been clamors from advocacy groups that the prison has been mistreating them. Lawsuits have alleged and judges have found that the treatment of asylum-seekers violates a settlement agreement that controls how the prison should be run.

The State Department of Human Services did not grant the license because the federal immigration facility does not comport with licensing as a child residential center. Berks had actually been applying to double its population.