news-queue:

Nearly a dozen immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement were kept in solitary confinement for more than two months, including two people who were isolated for more than 300 days, according to a draft Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s report obtained by BuzzFeed News.

The draft, which highlighted a February inspection of the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California, also documented how food at the facility had expired and gone moldy.

ICE has come under fire in recent years for issues related to medical care provided at its detention centers. In some facilities, ICE provides medical care directly; in others, a few employees assist contractors; and in many cases, the agency oversees care provided by a contractor.

In September, the House Oversight Committee found that ICE detainees died after receiving inadequate medical care and that jail workers “falsified records to cover up” issues. That same month, a separate committee report issued by the House Homeland Security Committee found that ICE detainees are often given deficient medical care and that detention centers use segregation as a threat against immigrants.

The draft report obtained by BuzzFeed News documents how officials at the detention facility in Calexico were using solitary confinement as a long term “solution” for immigrants in “protective custody,” or those who need special supervision or housing due to risks to their safety.

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.

“During our inspection, we identified serious violations regarding the administrative segregation of detainees at [Imperial Regional Detention Facility],” the report states. “Specifically, IRDF was using administrative segregation as a long-term solution for detainees in protective custody and overly restricted detainees by not offering privileges similar to those offered to detainees in general housing units.”

In addition to finding 11 immigrants had been kept in solitary confinement for more than 60 days and two others for more than 300 days, inspectors said there had been no documented review to evaluate the continued solitary confinement and the immigrants were not afforded recreation time for an hour a day, as required. The inspectors also said the detainees received inadequate medical checks.

“Our examination of segregation records showed the facility inaccurately reported to ICE that detainees were receiving recreation time when, in fact, they were not,” the inspectors wrote. “Moreover, detainees in administrative segregation were restricted to their individual cells for approximately 22 to 23 hours a day without access to the same group activities or opportunities as those in the general population.”

Read More