Exclusive | Lefties call Delaney Hall a dungeon, but inmates enjoy yoga, aromatherapy and other amenities
Namaste, rioters.Forget the Dickensian tales of deprivation inside the Delaney Hall ICE facility in Newark.Inmates are not only well fed and have use of computers and state-of-the-art gym facilities — they also can do yoga sessions complete with lavender-scented aromatherapy.When they’re not striking downward dog poses, detainees also have access to “full soccer fields and an excellent gym,” according to Rep.
Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), who toured the facility this week.The lawmaker’s visit came as protesters camped outside Delaney Hall, claiming detainees were being served rotten food amid inhumane conditions — a stark contrast to what Van Drew said he actually saw inside the controversial, 1000-bed facility.Van Drew, 73, called the fitness center “way better” than the one in his DC apartment building.“They’ve got a squat machine, they’ve got a machine for bench pressing.Also a fly, reverse fly.
Leg machines, all the stuff you have in a real full-service gym,” he said.He said officials told him the detainees also get to do yoga.GEO Reentry Services, an arm of the private company GOP Group which runs this facility and others under $1 billion in government contracts, talked up Delaney’s yoga offerings in a web posting.The workouts, held in the lecture hall, include “meditation and mindfulness sessions” — and “lavender and tangerine aromatherapy to create a calming and invigorating environment.”At each session “residents learn about the latest research about the benefits of aromatherapy and meditation at other facilities, including San Quentin, Folsom and Walpole,” in reference to well-known lockups.“There’s a lot of benefits,” Alexis Giglio, a therapist who helped lead the class several years ago, told The Post.
She said she surveyed inmates at Delaney about “how they’re feeling beforehand and how they’re feeling after.”A GEO Group spokesperson said the facility offered “fitness and wellness programming focused on ...