ICE Detainees were held in Solitary for Months, DHS Inspector General (IG) says in Unpublished Report.
The Unpublished Report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) IG has found that nearly a Dozen Immigrants Detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were held in Solitary Confinement, which is considered to be Torture, for Periods of Over Two Months. According to the Report, Two of those People were kept in Solitary for more 300 days.
The Draft Report said that Officials at the Privately operated Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California, further Lied about the One hour of Free Time Immigrants held in Solitary are supposed to get. “Our examination of segregation records showed the facility inaccurately reported to ICE that detainees were receiving recreation time when, in fact, they were not,” Inspectors wrote according to the Report.
“Detainees can request protective custody at any time. ICE also allows detainees to be placed in solitary confinement, called ‘administrative segregation’ for those isolated for nonpunitive reasons, if their presence would pose a threat to the lives of other detainees or themselves.” But Human Rights Advocates have slammed Solitary as Torture, and especially in the kinds of Conditions described by the IG’s report.
“Considering the severe mental pain or suffering solitary confinement may cause, it can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment when used as a punishment, during pre-trial detention, indefinitely or for a prolonged period, for persons with mental disabilities or juveniles,” UN Special Rapporteur on Torture said in 2011 according to UN News. “The practice should be used only in very exceptional circumstances and for as short a time as possible, he stressed,” UN News continued at the time.
Yet ICE already has a History of using Solitary Confinement for Punishing Immigrants, Punishing Detained People for Speaking-Out against Abuse, and using it to Threaten Others for daring to ask for Medical Care. In a horrific Report earlier this year, the House Oversight Committee said that an Officer at another Privately Operated Immigration Camp also Falsified Records for One Man who had been thrown into Solitary Confinement and then later died after the Officer Failed to properly check on him.
“CoreCivic detention staff were supposed to check on [Huy Chi Tran] every 15 minutes, but the detention officer on duty left Mr. Tran unsupervised for 51 minutes just before Mr. Tran’s cardiac arrest that led to his death,” the Committee said an Internal ICE Report found. Tran had been a U.S. Resident for over 30 years. “Investigators found that the officer falsified observation logs to hide the fact that he had failed to conduct welfare checks over that 51-minute period.”
Other Abuses uncovered in the IG’s Report were piles of Spoiled Food intended for Detainees. This has also been an Ongoing Abuse in Detention Camps. “The inspectors reported finding expired frozen tortillas, turkey bologna, and moldy zucchini in the food preparation and storage area. The facility’s officials said that they had not marked frozen food and produce packages with expiration dates.”
ICE’s Abusive Treatment of Detained People is the Norm and not a One-Off by a Bad Apple. They do it because they get away with it, especially during the Past Four years. Yet Congress keeps throwing Billions at them.
“Since the creation of DHS in 2003, ICE spending has nearly tripled, from $3.3 billion to $8.4 billion today,” American Immigration Council said this year. “Much of this funding has gone to increasing the agency’s ability to hold immigrants in detention in locations around the country.” In Conditions like what the IG’s Report describes.
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