Conditions

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Conditions

The Chinese who passed the medical exams would wait for the hearing of their applications in the detention center. The immigrants lived in communal rooms with very little furniture. The room was designed with rows of single bunk beds arranged in levels of two or three. There was no such thing as privacy. Males were usually kept on the second floor barracks where they were surrounded by a fence to prevent escape. Guards were set outside of the doors, but other than that the immigrants were mostly left alone the first year they were there.

Boys getting ready for their physical examination

Detainees were not allowed outside visits from outside before their cases were heard. Locked inside the two-story building, time was usually spent daydreaming and worrying about their futures and family. There was so much time; people passed it by usually gambling, reading and sewing. Only once a week were they allowed to walk supervised to their baggage to retrieve selected items.

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