Getting religion to detainees at McHenry Co. jail

Immigration activists, concerned that federal detainees at the McHenry County jail are not receiving enough access to clergy, met with jail officials Wednesday hoping to open the facility's doors to more religious workers.

The meeting comes as members of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights are pushing legislation in Springfield that would require that detainees receive the same access to clergy as regular inmates, without it taking away from their other visitation allowances.

"For these people, these probably are some of the darkest hours of their life, and to not have religious counsel at this time is not just," said Lawrence Benito, the coalition's assistant director.

Jail officials, however, said they already are complying with most of the proposed legislation's requirements, including making clergy available to visit detainees, weekly services for multiple denominations and faiths, Bible study and other religious programs.

"(Detainees) get religious opportunities just as much as our other inmates," Lt. Rebecca Sylvester said. "Everybody gets offered services."

The meeting Wednesday shines a light on one of the many challenges the jail faces as it holds as many as 230 federal immigration detainees daily under a contract with U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Most come from Latin America, but the jail also houses detainees from China, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, many hailing from different faiths and religious traditions.

Coalition members, who arrived at the Woodstock jail ready to confront jail officials over the issue, instead came away from Wednesday's meeting impressed with the jail's efforts. But they also were hopeful more could be done.

"What we're trying to figure out is what is reasonable and what is possible," Benito said. "We'd like to see religious workers have more access to the people who want it."

One area in which the two sides differ is a jail rule requiring clergy members to have the name of a specific detainee they want to see before being allowed a visit. The requirement, Coalition Policy Director Fred Tsao said, is impractical because turnover among the detainee population is so high.

"Even if the clergy has a name, there's no guarantee that person will be there on a week-to-week, or even day-to-day basis," Tsao said.

Instead, coalition members said they would prefer the jail to open up more time for clergy to enter the jail and meet with any detainees who want their counsel, and in a setting less formal than an official service.

But with time needed for mandatory head counts, meals, visitation, educational programs and other activities, jail officials say there may not be enough time to accommodate any more religious workers.

"We try to get in as much as we can," Sylvester said. "It's just a matter of hours in the day to do the things that have to get done."

Both sides said they would like to meet again in the coming weeks in hopes of working out more solutions.