(NewsNation) — Immigration advocacy groups are calling on the Department of Homeland Security to halt solitary confinement in detention centers and launch an investigation into a Colorado facility the groups alleged misused solitary confinement.
The complaint filed with DHS oversight bodies alleges detainees at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado, are increasingly being placed in solitary as a way to “control and punish” them.
The American Immigration Council, the National Immigration Project (NIPNLG), and the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) filed the complaint on behalf of people who are currently or were previously housed at the facility.
“ICE is responsible for the safety of detained individuals, which it has repeatedly demonstrated it cannot provide. The egregious use of solitary confinement is detrimental to detained individuals’ mental and physical well-being,” Rebekah Wolf, senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Council, said in a statement. “Despite a documented history of abuse and numerous deaths at the Aurora facility, this complaint illustrates the systemic failure by ICE to ensure a safe environment for the people they detain.”
The groups claim in one case, an immigrant was placed in solitary for three days for eating too slowly, and subsequently sent to solitary ten times before he was transferred to another facility.
“If I spoke too loudly, solitary. If I climbed on top of a table to get a guard’s attention, solitary. If I had suicidal thoughts, solitary. When the guards would tease me about being deported back to my home country and make airplane sounds at me and gesture like a plane was taking me away, I would become upset and then get solitary for being upset,” the detainee, identified as Felix, said.
The complaint also alleges detainees with disabilities were not given accommodations and describes safety concerns of survivors of assault or violence.
The facility is owned and operated by GEO Group, which the advocacy groups allege has “jeopardized the health and safety” of detainees.
The complaints asks the DHS oversight bodies to recommend the termination of the contract that allows for the operation of the facility and release all of its detainees. The advocacy groups also seek the cessation of medical segregation training on disability accommodations and more oversight and enforcement of disabilities law.
