Refugees: Confined in the Land of the Free

Among the more than 125,000 Cuban refugees who poured into South Florida in the 1980 boatlift from the port of Mariel were a few thousand "excludable aliens," many of whom had criminal records in Cuba. Four years later, 1,500 of them still await resolution of their cases, a mass of increasingly desperate men locked in the granite cell blocks of the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Last Thursday the Marielitos rioted, setting mattresses and clothing afire amid shouts of "¡Libertad!"

Four hours passed before 200 guards using tear gas regained control of the cell block. But the basic situation remains out of...