The whistleblower, a former medical practitioner at the Baker County Detention Center, confirms reports of sexual and racial abuse at the facility
WASHINGTON — Lawyers representing a medical practitioner and a young woman filed a whistleblower disclosure and a civil rights complaint today that reveal blatant human rights violations and illegality at the Baker County Detention Center, a county jail that operates in part as a federal immigration detention facility near Jacksonville, Florida.
The whistleblower, a former medical practitioner at Baker, documented a pattern of systemic neglect: staff denying basic medical care, falsifying records to cover their tracks, and subjecting detained individuals to racial and sexual harassment. Their testimony independently corroborates the account of a young woman whose sexual abuse at Baker is detailed in the federal civil rights complaint released alongside the whistleblower’s disclosure today.
“For years, whistleblowers across the immigration detention system have exposed unconscionable conditions for those in ICE custody. In the absence of effective oversight, whistleblowers bring forward insider information about medical misconduct, abusive use of solitary confinement, and neglect of basic human needs,” said the whistleblower’s attorney Andrea Meza, Director of Immigration Campaigns, Government Accountability Project. “These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re features of a system that prioritizes profit over human dignity.”
The civil rights complaint, which was submitted to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) by the ACLU of Florida and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, details unlawful sexual harassment, voyeurism, and abuse of solitary confinement of a young woman named Ana.* The complaint outlines an especially horrific incident wherein Ana, in the midst of a mental health crisis, was forcibly strapped to a restraint chair by male guards, stripped, and mocked.
A survivor of trafficking and domestic violence, Ana arrived at Baker in May of 2023 suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, clinical depression, and clinical anxiety. After Ana, who does not speak English, asked for feminine hygiene products, Baker officers yelled at her and took her to solitary confinement for not complying with their English commands that she did not understand. Baker kept Ana in solitary for over a month, without providing her with adequate mental health care, during which time she had several mental health crises. While in solitary confinement, she began hitting her head against a wall in distress. Instead of addressing her mental health emergency, male guards stripped her, strapped her to a restraint chair in a ripped suicide smock that left her breast exposed, and laughed at her.
“Ana came to Baker vulnerable and in need, and officers responded with malice and cruelty,” said Sarah Gillman, Director of Strategic U.S. Litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. “Her mistreatment at the hands of Baker officials is a clear violation of the law including the Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Rehabilitation Act. More than that, it’s an affront to our most basic, foundational principles of human dignity.”
Aside from Ana’s CRCL complaint and the whistleblower’s disclosure, Baker has a long and well-documented history of sexual harassment and abuse. Earlier this year, in response to a prior CRCL complaint, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed several egregious conditions issues at Baker, including abuse by facility staff. In 2022, the ACLU of Florida filed a formal Prison Rape Elimination Act complaint outlining a pattern of sexual abuse and voyeurism at the facility, citing multiple cases of officers photographing female immigrants in their undergarments and watching them shower and change clothes. Baker also has a record of medical neglect, as outlined in a recent national report that investigated the preventable deaths of immigrants in ICE detention.
“We cannot allow a government-run facility to treat people with such deliberate contempt and predatory behavior,” said Amy Godshall, legal fellow, immigrants' rights attorney at the ACLU of Florida. “Baker has let xenophobia and misogyny run rampant at its facility for far too long, and has curated an abusive and unlivable environment for immigrants. It is an affront to human decency, and such state-sanctioned abuse is unacceptable. It is time to hold Baker accountable and to call for its immediate closure.”
In light of these ongoing and systemic abuses, Government Accountability Project, RFK Human Rights, and the ACLU of Florida call for the immediate closure of Baker County Detention Center. The organizations also urge ICE to suspend the assignment of new detainees to Baker while the facility undergoes necessary investigation and audit.
A copy of the whistleblower disclosure can be viewed here.
A copy of the CRCL can be viewed here.
