Pictures with the Sojourner Crew

Asylum seekers are detained here at the Elizabeth Detention Center (EDC), a converted former warehouse run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). CCA is a private sector provider of detention and corrections services to federal, state and local governments. Notice the blockaded windows.





Groups of visitors pose for shots outside the EDC after Saturday visits. Sojourner Volunteers make the trip every Saturday and every other Tuesday, totaling six visits a month.


Sojourner Visitors load up the van with boxes of books to drop off of at the Hudson County Correctional Center's library. It was a historic visit for Sojourners, as HCCC is the newest location for the group to visit detained immigrants.


A Saturday group gathers in the cold just after visiting.


Dr. Allen Keller, founder and director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, talks with WYNC's Bob Hennelly after a Homeland Security Advisory Council Meeting early February, 2010 as Sojourner Chair and founding member Carol Fouke-Mpoyo listens.


A recent volunteer waits patiently for the remainder of the group to exit the building after visiting. The Elizabeth Detention Center is located in a near-abandoned warehouse district outside of the Newark Airport in New Jersey.





The group after a Saturday visit sharing stories from the morning as we return to the van.







May 2009 we held an Art Auction at a local hot spot to raise money for Sojourners and spread awareness of the work we do.







A group of women smile for the camera after a saturday morning visit.

A group surrounds the table, listening intently, as David Fraccaro, Sojourners Coordinator, leads a training session. Before visiting, volunteers participate in a two-hour training session to learn about the mission of Sojourners, the ethics of visiting, and have their own questions answered.


Bill, a Tuesday night driver, gathers a group from our Uptown Manhattan pickup spot - The Riverside Church. The crew waves as they head out to the Elizabeth Detention Center, not without first making a stop at the downtown pickup spot, Hudson Street Cafe, located at the corner of Hudson and Canal.


A group of visitors from the early days of Sojourners share in the release of a former detainee.


Again, a group of visitors pose with asylee/former detainee and our friends at the Jesuit Refugee Service.


Former detainee and visitor embrace to share in the joy of release.