“I Was in Prison, and You Visited Me”

Friends’ Encounters with Detained Immigrants

Our Quaker faith has a long tradition of prison visitation. Early Friends were jailed unjustly for speaking the Truth of Jesus to anyone who would listen: that God is always with you and, in fact, there is that of God in every person. That is why visitation has been so important to Friends throughout history: when we meet with those who are in prison, we meet Christ there.

Over the past two years, Friends from Fairfield Meeting in Camby, Ind., have been involved with the work of Indiana Assistance to Immigrants in Detention (Indiana AID). Indiana AID is a volunteer group that supports individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Indiana by bearing witness to their experiences through visits, offering information, and providing resources to them and their families. As ICE has increased their efforts across the country in detaining both documented and undocumented immigrants, many people have been wondering how they can best counter this tide of unjust detention. Being involved with detention visitations is one way that we have been called.

Indiana AID allows for in-person visits and online access to speak with those detained in the ICE detention facilities at Clay County Jail in Brazil, Ind., and Miami State Correctional in Bunker Hill, Ind. Volunteers go in and explain that they are not lawyers or connected with the detention facilities but are there as volunteers to provide Bible reading, prayer, and assistance with basic needs where they can. Volunteers also take down the names and identifying information of those who wish to speak with volunteers later online as well as get information to family, friends, or lawyers on the outside. They find out if there are books they would like to read and if they need assistance with commissary or communication funds. The detention facilities allow Indiana AID to come in because of the religious nature of the assistance: a short Bible study and/or prayer time are offered for anyone who would like to participate; it is a time for them to draw close to God, no matter what their background is.

From Josih: I have been doing visitation since last year. I feel drawn to this work after my past experiences living in California during the 2010s, when communities there faced severe physical, economic, and social destruction—several catastrophic wildfires alongside an escalating affordable housing and homelessness crisis—spanning multiple state and federal administrations that failed to protect us. After the 2024 election I had to do something because I knew it was coming to Indiana. I was so thankful to find IN AID. I have truly seen the Spirit of God residing within all of us, those visiting and those detained, during my in-person visitations and weekly video visits. Driving someone in my car to be reunited with their family after they have been released after months of unjust detention has been the closest I have felt to God in my life. All of those conversations are sacred and communal. I have continued to visit with some immigrants who have been transferred to other facilities in the United States or deported to their “country of origin.”

From Stan: I have partners that I am able to communicate with in a voice call weekly, and email with as well. I also have been involved in transporting someone who has been released to return home. I have only had the opportunity to do that once so far, but hope to do it more in the future. When detainees are arrested it’s usually for simple infractions that would normally not call for arrest and detainment. I even know one person who was arrested where ICE did not verify his identity. He is in the detention center, and his bracelet has a name that is not his, and even shows him from a country that he has never been in. I just find that shocking—that he was not permitted to provide his ID that he had available that would have proved he was not the person they thought they had arrested. It is a difficult situation, and these people are desperate to return home to their families.

We must disabuse ourselves of the current narrative that immigrants are detained for a specific purpose. That is not true. We have a set of laws and a justice system in the United States that deal with the prosecution and correction of criminal and civil acts. Most of the immigrants in detention have not broken any criminal laws. Immigrant detention operates outside of the justice system and is prosecuted solely within the administrative legal framework. We are told that people who are detained do not have the “correct” documentation or did not follow the “correct” administrative process for entering the country. But it’s nearly impossible to follow a “correct” path when the requirements and processes are frequently changed by the administration.

Conditions in detention facilities vary, but several patterns are common. Medical neglect is widespread; severe pain is often dismissed and treated only with basic over-the-counter medication, and those who are seriously ill may be placed in solitary confinement. Temperatures inside facilities are frequently extreme: either kept uncomfortably cold even in winter or, in some Southern facilities, left without air conditioning. Dietary needs based on allergies or religious practice are often ignored, and food quality can be very poor or even rotten, forcing detainees to rely on commissary purchases. Many facilities offer no recreational opportunities, and some—like Clay County Jail—do not allow detainees to go outdoors at all. Access to television, books, and games may be removed from entire housing blocks for extended periods over minor misunderstandings, such as missing a meeting time or not responding to an officer speaking English when the detainee does not understand the language.

Detainees are frequently transferred from one block to another or moved across the country, making it difficult for lawyers and families to maintain contact. ICE pays detention facilities each time a detainee is transferred, creating a financial incentive for constant movement.

In February, Pendle Hill study center released a statement titled “Our Call to End and Reform Unjust Immigration Enforcement Practices and Laws.” Fairfield Meeting signed onto the statement and passed its own with the following query: Therefore, Friends, what does God require of us in response to rapidly deteriorating conditions and to serve immigrants with dignity?

Being involved with detention visitations is just one way Friends can respond. We encourage Friends to partner with local groups involved in immigration work or connect with national efforts, such as the North Star Network, a Quaker organization; Catholic Charities Immigration Services; and National Immigrant Justice Center. Wherever Friends are involved in this effort, it is truly a place in which we find the in-dwelling Spirit of Christ in our midst.