Home to both a newish legislative crackdown on illegal immigrants as well as the country's largest immigrant detention facility, Georgia finds itself positioned at the center of what's become a contentious conversation nationwide.

Conditions in Georgia's immigrant detention facilities - those that are privately owned in particular - have widely been reported to be substandard. Current and former detainees have complained about unreasonable guards, an insurmountable language barrier, limited access to legal resources, poor-to-non-existant medical care, and inadequate food. (CL visited the Corrections Corporation of America-owned Stewart Detention Facility - the largest the country - in Lumpkin, Ga. last year. Although we were unable to gain access, family members and immigrant advocates detailed many similar complaints.)

The ACLU of Georgia released a study today - the product of more than three years of research - that echoes many of those complaints. Based on detainee interviews, as well as interviews with detainees' friends and family members, facility tours, and FOIA requests, the study outlines several areas of concern, including due process, living conditions, and inadequate medical care at Georgia's four immigrant detention facilities: Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, North Georgia Detention Center in Gainesville, Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, and Atlanta City Detention Center. Three of the four facilities are privately owned.

The 112-page study goes into great detail facility-by-facility, but here are some highlights of their findings from the executive summary:

Some detainees are being held long after they were supposed to be released ... 

At Stewart, at least two detainees interviewed by the ACLU of Georgia were still in detention more than six months after their final orders of removal were issued. In light of the serious due process concerns presented by indefinite detention, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that detention exceeding six months violates detainees' right to liberty without sufficient justification or adequate procedural safeguards where detainees' removal is not reasonably foreseeable.

Most guards and ICE officials can't communicate with detainees ... 

Although the majority of immigrant detainees in Georgia only speak Spanish, the majority of detention facility staff and medical staff do not. Of the four facilities, Irwin had the largest bilingual staff with 20 percent of the staff able to speak Spanish; however, even at that facility, it is still common practice to have other detainees interpret. At ACDC [Atlanta City Detention Center], one detainee was afraid to interpret for other detainees since he was previously put in the segregation unit for interpreting.

Some detainees aren't being fed properly ... 

Detainees had three main concerns about the food served at each detention facility: unusual mealtimes, insufficient quantity, and poor quality. Some detainees complained about the 15-hour period between dinner and breakfast. Most detainees also complained that portions were too small and some detainees began to work in the kitchen just so they could eat more. Detainees reported weight loss; one detainee lost 68 pounds while at Stewart. Several detainees also reported being served expired food or beverages and finding foreign objects in their food; this was especially prevalent at Stewart.

Detainees claim guards are retaliatory and abusive ... 

For example, after the ACLU of Georgia interviewed a detainee at Stewart, he was sent directly to the segregation unit and confined for 29 days. Although he was not given a reason for being put in segregation, his wife believed that he was put in segregation as a consequence of speaking to the ACLU of Georgia. Other forms of retaliation include denying detainees recreation, food, law library access, or telephone privileges. In 2009 and 2011, detainees at Stewart documented instances where CCA guards sent detainees to the segregation unit for complaining about the quality of the water.

The study concludes with a long list of recommendations, the most pointed of which is, "Mandatory detention of immigrants must end."