Seven people detained at California's largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre have sued the US government, alleging they have been denied essential medications, frequently go hungry and are housed in a 'decrepit' facility. The federal class-action complaint, filed on Wednesday, challenges the 'inhumane conditions' at the California City detention centre, which opened in late August inside a shuttered state prison.
The suit alleges 'life-threatening' medical neglect, with plaintiffs claiming they have been denied cancer treatment, basic disability accommodations and regular insulin for diabetes. It describes conditions as 'dire', stating: 'Sewage bubbles up from the shower drains, and insects crawl up and down the walls of the cells. People are locked in concrete cells the size of a parking space for hours on end.' Temperatures inside are 'frigid', and those who cannot afford $20 sweatshirts 'suffer in the cold, some wearing socks on their arms as makeshift sleeves'. Meals are 'paltry', and people who cannot afford supplemental food go hungry.
Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assistant secretary, denied the claims, saying that no one is denied proper medical care, that detainees are provided three meals a day evaluated by dietitians, and that they have access to phones. She stated that 'ICE has higher detention standards than most US prisons'.
Requests for medical attention 'go unanswered for weeks or are never answered at all', according to the complaint. One deaf plaintiff, Jose Ruiz Canizales, has only communicated once with staff through a sign language interpreter via video; when he tries to communicate, staff 'often shrug their shoulders, walk away, or laugh at him'. Another plaintiff with a heart anomaly, Yuri Alexander Roque Campos, has been denied medications for days, resulting in two emergency hospitalisations for severe chest pain; a hospital doctor allegedly told him 'he could die if this were to happen again'.
The facility, run by private prison corporation CoreCivic (not a named defendant), is located in the remote Mojave desert, 100 miles north-east of Los Angeles. It can hold more than 2,500 people, increasing ICE's California detention capacity by 36%, and currently detains more than 800. The plaintiffs are represented by the Prison Law Office, the American Civil Liberties Union, and other groups.
