The Mariel refugees different from previous Cuban immigrants in that they lacked political and financial support and included a small percentage of ex-prisoners and persons with psychiatric histories. They were initially a group of mainly working-class people who entered the compound at the Peruvian embassy in Havana following the Cuban government's public announcement that it was withdrawing its military guard after an incident involving a small group of Cubans seeking political asylum. The Cuban government incorrectly stated that these refugees were social misfits and offered Cuban-Americans an opportunity to come to Cuba to pick up their relatives. Some of the Cuban- Americans were forced to take prisoners or physically or mentally ill persons in their boats. Thus, contrary to formal diplomatic procedure, the individuals leaving Cuba from Mariel, a small port city, had not been interviewed by United States State Department personnel prior to their departure. From 1.5 to 4 percent of the total of the more than 124,000 Mariel Cubans are estimated to have been criminals. The Federal Government chose to detain the deportable Mariels and eventually consolidated them into two Federal prisons. In New York State, the Mariels accounted for almost two-thirds of the Cuban-born inmates under the custody of the Department of Correctional Services on December 31, 1990. 38 references