Jail Visit and Detention Line Volunteers
JAIL VISIT VOLUNTEERS
CAIR Coalition conducts regular visits to Virginia jails in order to provide immigrant detainees information about immigration detention, their legal rights, options for fighting deportation, immigration court and general information about the deportation process. We always seek dedicated volunteers to join us on our visits. Volunteers assist us with intakes, interpreting and distributing information to the detainees. Please read the frequently asked questions below for more information about this opportunity. If you have any questions, please find our contact information below.
Who we are looking for:
We welcome all volunteers, regardless of legal background. No knowledge of the law is required. The volunteers’ primary tasks are gathering information from the detainees, which the CAIR Coalition legal team used to evaluate cases for pro bono placement, and distributing materials with general legal information.
While we welcome all volunteers, we do give preference to Spanish-speakers or speakers of other needed languages in cases of over-enrollment. We have a particular need for Spanish-speakers since the majority of the immigrants detainees are from Central America or Mexico and we seek to serve them as effectively as possible. We also seek volunteers who speak other languages such as French, Amharic, Tigrinya, Somali, Arabic, Russian, Farsi or Mandarin.
How to sign up:
If you are a new volunteer, please email deena.cowans@caircoalition.org to sign up for a training session. All new volunteers must attend a volunteer training session before volunteering on a jail visit.
If you have already attended a training session and would like to sign up for a jail visit, please please email deena.cowans@caircoalition.org.
Frequently Asked Questions
What will I be doing on the jail visit?
Because some of the jails that CAIR Coalition visits hold upwards of 500 immigrant detainees, volunteers are very important in assisting CAIR Coalition staff in their communication with the detainees. Depending on the needs of the detainee, you will do some or all of the following:
- For detainees who want help finding pro bono attorneys to fight their cases and have not spoken to CAIR Coalition before, volunteers do full intakes. We will provide training on conducting intakes during your volunteer training session.
- For detainees whom CAIR Coalition has seen before, we have likely reviewed their case and may have new information to provide them or follow-up questions about their cases. You will use our database print-out to give messages and/or ask follow up questions.
- For detainees with questions about specific topics, (for example asylum, bond or voluntary departure), volunteers help distribute relevant information packets from the folder of materials that we provide to all volunteers on the day of the visit. CAIR Coalition also conducts workshops at the detention centers, so volunteers can make note of individuals who are interested in a particular topic to help CAIR Coalition staff plan for the next pro se workshop. However, volunteers should NOT attempt to provide responses to specific questions on their own.
- For detainees with pro bono attorneys, occasionally we will need volunteer interpreters to help the attorney communicate with the client. Volunteers may accompany a pro bono attorney to a professional visitation room to help with interpretation.
How will I be trained?
Before your first jail visit, you will be required to attend a training session at the CAIR Coalition office. At the training session we will explain in detail how to conduct an intake and provide other important information about the visit. Training sessions are typically conducted on Fridays at noon, at least twice month, and last for about an hour. You are welcome to bring your lunch. If you are part of a group affiliated with a law school or another organization that is interested in volunteering, feel free to contact us if you would like to set up a training session for your group.
Where do we go?
In Virginia, immigrant detainees are held at two state regional jails that contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and at one private, for-profit detention facility that was built specifically to hold immigrants. CAIR Coalition seeks volunteers to join us on visits to all three facilities.
Hampton Roads Regional Jail (government run)
Location: Portsmouth, VA
Distance from Washington, DC: 200 miles
Number of Detainees: around 350
Male and Female detainees
ICA-Farmville (private)
Location: Farmville, VA
Distance from Washington, DC: 170 miles
Number of Detainees: over 500
Male and Female detainees
Rappahannock Regional Jail
Location: Stafford, VA
Distance from Washington, DC: 100 miles
Number of Detainees: 150
Male and Female detainees
Do I need to provide my own transportation?
While CAIR Coalition is able to provide limited transportation, if you are able to drive and/or provide transportation to other volunteers, CAIR Coalition welcomes the donation of your time and resources. CAIR Coalition is a non-profit organization, so you can consider your gasoline expense as a donation. We greatly appreciate the dedication of volunteers who are willing to assist in driving to the detention centers!
If you will be carpooling with CAIR Coalition, we will meet in front of the CAIR Coalition office on the morning of the visit. If you have already attended a training session and are coming from a location other than DC, you may meet us at the jail.
What should I wear?
Dress is business casual. Skirts or dresses, open-toed shoes, sneakers, jeans, and sleeveless tops are prohibited. Jail administrators are very strict about this dress policy and may deny admission if you are inappropriately dressed.
What is a typical day like?
If you are leaving from DC, we meet in front of the CAIR Coalition office. The office is located at 1612 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20006. It is near the Farragut West and Farragut North metro stops, easily accessible by the red, orange, and blue lines. The S1, S2, S4, and DC Circulator buses also stop less than a block away from our office.
For Hampton Roads visits, departure time is 6:00 a.m.
For ICA-Farmville visits, departure time is 6:00 a.m.
For Rappahannock visits, departure time is 7:00 a.m.
We will spend the morning and sometimes the afternoon in a facility.. We normally stop to eat after we leave the jail. Since we will not have a chance to eat until the afternoon, it is a good idea to eat a healthy breakfast before the visit or bring something to eat in the car. No food or drink is permitted inside the jail!
For Hampton Roads visits, we arrive back in downtown DC between 8:30pm and 9:00pm.
For ICA-Farmville visits, we arrive back in downtown DC between 8:30pm and 9:00pm.
For Rappahannock visits, we arrive back in downtown DC between 2:30pm and 3pm.
What are my responsibilities after the jail visit?
CAIR Coalition has as a strict confidentiality policy. Please see the confidentiality agreement you will sign as part of your jail visit training for more information. In general, you will be required to submit any intake forms you complete along with any notes to CAIR Coalition staff before the end of the visit day.
DETENTION LINE VOLUNTEERS
CAIR Coalition is in need of volunteers to help answer our detention line. The detention line is for detained noncitizens and their family members who can call us for free. Detention line volunteers help with initial intakes, provide additional information to the detainee and/or their family member about the detention and removal process, as well as connect detainees to their attorneys. Detention line volunteers may also assist with preparations for our weekly jail visits, research criminal records and help with case follow-up and translations. Training is required.
CAIR Coalition is particularly looking for volunteers who speak Spanish, French or Arabic. Volunteers must be available for at least one two-hour afternoon shift a week between the hours of 11am-1pm OR 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., Monday-Friday. (Ideally, we are looking for volunteers who could do more than one shift a week.)
Please note that the next scheduled training for detention line volunteers will be fall 2011. For more information, please contact deena.cowans@caircoalition.org
Medical and Mental Health Professional Volunteers
Asylum seekers and detained refugees often need medical evaluations for their immigration cases. Arriving asylum seekers, including many torture survivors, often need mental health and physical evaluations as evidence for the immigration judge of their past persecution.
Unadjusted refugees who need to apply for a special waiver in order to avoid deportation need a medical evaluation performed by a designated civil surgeon and to be up to date on their vaccines in order to complete the application for the waiver.
Unfortunately, Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not cooperate in releasing individuals from detention for evaluations, which means that if the individual does not have the resources to pay a physician to come to the detention center, we need to rely on volunteer medical professionals who are willing to take the time to visit a detention center on a pro bono basis.
Your commitment could help prevent an asylum seeker or refugee from being deported back to a country where they may face persecution or death.
Please contact Elizabeth McGrail, Legal Director, for more information at liz.mcgrail@caircoalition.org or (202) 331-3320 x 20.