DALLAS - It was January, and 3-year-old Zhara Ibrahim had not seen her mother or brother or three sisters in three months.

They were all detainees at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas, which holds mostly asylum seeking immigrants being held for deportation.

But after interviewing former detainees and attorneys, a News Eight investigation revealed conditions inside far worse than immigration officials had claimed.

After protests, and intervention by the Ibrahims' attorney and Dallas businessman Ralph Isenberg, the Ibrahim family was released.

Soon the ACLU would file a lawsuit seeking to have the facility closed.

But instead of facing a trial, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has agreed to relax standards inside.

No longer will children be made to wear uniforms.

They will get to spend more time outdoors.

Children 12 years and up will have free roam of the facility.

A pediatrician will be on site.

Children will be able to go on field trips, get privacy curtains around the toilets in their cells and officials promise more toys.

Isenberg has played a role in the release of at least three detainee families.

He says the settlement is not necessarily good news.

"Because had this thing gone to court I believe the judge would have shut this facility down because the fact still remains, you don't put children in prison."

Immigration officials downplay the significance of the the settlement saying many of the modifications have already been implemented.

But one thing everyone agrees on is that the Hutto is a far more humane facility than it was just a few months ago.