MIAMI, FL – A new report documents the alarming and egregious conditions individuals face in ICE detention centers in Florida, including Baker County and Glades Detention Centers. The independent analysis was conducted by the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University using both public documents and complaints submitted to the ACLU of Florida’s Immigration Detention Database, which currently houses over 427 complaints of abuse across Florida detention centers. The report identifies poor conditions of confinement, detainee abuse, denial of medical care, inadequate access to legal counsel, and racial bias as dominant themes that emerged from the data.
The report, “Hidden Suffering: An Inside Look at the Living Conditions in Florida’s Immigration Detention System,” provides first-hand accounts of people detained in Florida Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers for the past six years. The horrifying conditions of confinement about which people most frequently spoke include denial of basic necessities, such as soap, toilet paper, and sanitary pads; unsafe and unsanitary facilities, including moldy walls and bugs crawling out of the drains; as well as scarcity of edible food and reports of moldy and rotten food.
Researchers at Northeastern University found that people detained in these facilities experienced persistent emotional, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of staff at these facilities. They reported being punished for simply seeking medical care and being denied medical attention despite having pre-existing conditions. The report also found ample evidence of gendered and racialized mistreatment particularly concentrated on easily identifiable or visible ethnicities, languages, and religious expressions.
Additionally, the complaints reveal troubling patterns of Florida ICE detention centers limiting individuals’ access to counsel and interfering with their ability to communicate with their legal representatives, and the inadequate legal resources available to those in ICE detention.
The report is the latest to confirm the alarming conditions and unconstitutional practices that trend in Florida detention centers. It follows the recent news of a former medical practitioner who came forth as a whistleblower and disclosed intentional fraud and record manipulation by Baker County Detention Center staff. The account of the whistleblower’s experience at Baker affirms the patterns of abuse and neglect documented in this new report.
“Earlier this year, ICE signaled plans to expand into a mass immigration detention system despite strong public opposition from immigrants’ rights advocates and members of Congress. These efforts are laying the groundwork to help facilitate President-Elect Trump’s ability to carry out his draconian mass detention and deportation program,” said Amy Godshall, legal fellow and immigrants' rights attorney at the ACLU of Florida. “In Florida, we expect to see these detention facilities swell with people and these inhumane conditions worsen.”
In Florida, immigration detention centers have been established as holding centers for people awaiting a decision or other action in removal proceedings with the understanding that all reasonable accommodations be met according to ICE’s National Detention Standards. ICE standards mandate the provision of basic necessities such as food, water, clothing, medical care, and shelter. However, as demonstrated across several reportings, many people who are held within these detention centers have reported denial of these necessities.
“Our systematic review of complaints from inside detention facilities in Florida revealed troubling patterns of abuse,” said Amy Farrell, Director and Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University. “This report provides rich data that takes readers behind the statistics of abuse that have been chronicled in the ACLU of Florida database to understand the nature and impact of a range of abuses on people’s lives.”
In this report alone, almost 73 percent of complaints claimed individuals were denied some basic necessity, like deprivation of water, insufficient clothing, and denial of medication. In 72 percent of the complaints, people reported being physically or mentally abused by officers’ excessive use of force, harassment and bullying, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and instigation. In 78 percent of complaints, inadequate attention to health concerns and denial of medical care were reported by individuals.
“ICE detention is characterized by abuse, pervasive medical neglect, and utter disregard for the dignity of people in its custody. Florida is no exception,” said Alexis Yohros, senior research analyst at the ACLU of Florida. “Other reports from earlier this year found that 95 percent of deaths in ICE detention centers were preventable or possibly preventable if appropriate medical care had been provided. If Florida detention centers continue these patterns of abuse and neglect, we are bound to see many people suffer and more people die while housed in these government-run facilities. That’s why we’re calling on the Biden administration to halt any efforts to expand this cruel mass detention machine and shut down abusive facilities once and for all– including Baker. The bottom line is that this system is fundamentally inhumane, unnecessarily costly, and continues to put lives at risk.”
The report can be viewed here.
