Seven immigrant women held at a remote immigration detention center in Florida filed a complaint with federal officials, shedding light on an appalling pattern of abuses including sexual abuse by guards and a psychiatrist amounting to violations of the Prison Rape Elimination Acts (PREA), exposure to a highly toxic chemical spray, life-threatening medical neglect, violations of COVID-19 safety protocols, and racist and degrading treatment. Read the full complaint here.
Excessive Force and Retaliatory Use of Solitary Confinement Against Two Men Who Participated in Previous Civil Rights Complaint
Freedom for Immigrants and Immigrant Action Alliance submitted this complaint regarding the excessive use of force and retaliatory solitary confinement at Glades County Detention Center against two Jamaican men who reported abuse in a prior civil rights complaint filed February 22. Both men were harmed in the act of being taken to solitary confinement; both experienced severe use of force, with one man reporting he had been “badly beaten, maced and locked in confinement,” and the other reporting his head had been dragged on the ground on the way to solitary. Read the full complaint here.
Violations of Civil Rights, COVID-19 Protocols, Reckless Endangerment, and other Abuses at the Glades County Detention Center
Freedom for Immigrants joined its partners in submitting a multi-individual federal civil rights complaint against the Glades County Detention Center today on behalf of hundreds of people whose lives are being recklessly endangered at this county-run facility during the COVID-19 pandemic. The complaint, filed with the Office of the Inspector General and the Office for Civil Rights & Civil Liberties at DHS, demands investigation and immediate oversight to prevent additional deaths and health consequences. The groups also demand that ICE terminate its contract with Glades County and immediately release all people detained at the facility. Read the full complaint here.