Inside Report (5)

Almost a year after their arrival here, nearly 6,000 Cuban refugees are still not settled. They can't go home again, and their impatience grows by the day.

About 125,000 Cuban refugees came to the US last spring. Roughly 4,000 remain in the refugee camp at Fort Chafee, Ark. Another 1,700 are in federal prisons.

Of those at Chaffee, 2,500 may yet be placed with sponsors or halfway houses, say federal officials. Many of them are reported to have mental or other social adjustment problems.

As for what happens to the Cubans in prison, a federal Bureau of Prisons official says: "Your guess is as good as mine." Some, however, are being release d to sponsors.m