Trapped behind barbed wire fences and guarded by towers installed with machine guns at regular intervals, everything they did was strictly controlled. The camps were not a place of beauty. Built hastily from horse stalls, fair grounds, and race tracks, these places were fit for maximum security criminals (Mudrock).

Many petty daily regulations were enforced to keep the Japanese passive. These regulations included roll calls twice a day, curfew, and set meal times. Thousands of internees stood in line to receive meals that inadequate nutritionwise for the human body. Other regulations denied the internees basic rights such as the right to assemble (organizations were forbidden except with permission), religious freedom (Shinto was forbidden), speech (any Japanese language materials were confiscated), and privacy was non-existent (Mudrock).