Life in the detention center is … very hopeless. You re in one room, your dorm, 24/7. You eat there, sleep there, you take showers, go to the bathroom … there’s no access to going outside.

Sarah Jackson, the creator of Casa De Paz, described life in an immigrant detention center in a recent episode of Act Out! Here’s how host Eleanor Goldfield summarized their conversation:

How private companies make billions off of immigrants and how one woman seeks to soften the blow and offer some peace — or rather, paz.

Desiree Kane investigated immigrant detention in Denver, Casa De Paz, and Volleyball Latino, the volunteer sports league which funds their efforts, in a featured story on Shadowproof in August. Here’s how one refugee described her experience in and out of detention:

“My experience coming here was very terrible and in detention it’s very racist.” said Eleana Muñon Cabrera. Her terrible trek across the Sonoran Desert from Mexico is written across her face, although she spoke little of it. She reported seeing dead bodies in the desert along the way and, though no measurable statistics exist, many women report being raped during the crossing.

Instead of counseling her about her traumatic journey, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (I.C.E.) imprisoned Cabrera when she arrived with her now-deported brother. “I came here to reunite myself with my family and to have a better life,” she said.

We were glad to check in with Sarah again and see she’s still struggling for human rights for some of the most overlooked victims of the prison-industrial complex.