Rights group criticizes US on prison system, immigration policies

Jan 23, 2012, 10:05 GMT

Washington - Human Rights Watch on Sunday took to task the United States for a legal system that saw more prisoners than in any other country and for its immigration policies that led to hundreds of thousands of detentions.

In its annual report evaluating human rights worldwide, the group noted that the US had 2.3 million people in its prison system, with the highest per capita incarceration rate of 752 inmates per 100,000 residents. Disparities in sentences for minorities and the poor continue to be a problem, it said.

The group also criticized the widespread use of the death penalty in 34 of 50 states, even as Illinois banned its use last year.

On immigration, Human Rights Watch said the number of people deported had nearly doubled in the past decade as 387,000 people were deported in 2010. It pointed to Congress' failure to act on immigration reform, but praised an initiative by President Barack Obama's administration to close low-priority deportation cases.

The group also deemed of concern 'abusive counterterrorism policies,' such as the ongoing detention of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.