Holly Cooper Comments on Immigration Detention for New American Media
Holly S. Cooper, lecturer and staff attorney with the UC Davis School of Law Immigration Law Clinic, commented for New American Media on the difficulties of providing legal aid to prisoners in immigration detention who are held in solitary confinement. The article notes that transgender individuals are often held in solitary confinement, which can cut them off from access to legal assistance.
Cooper said that when she and students from the Immigration Law Clinic visit detainees in Yuba and Contra Costa County jails to give prisoners presentations on their rights, the only way to reach those in solitary confinement is to visit each cell individually, greatly decreasing efficiency. Prisoners held in solitary confinement are often "disoriented in time and space," she said, and "don't want to focus on their legal case."
Holly Cooper is a Lecturer and serves as staff attorney at the UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic. Her areas of specialty include immigration law and detained immigrants' rights.