Thread by @heidiraltman

NEW: Today DHS’s Inspector General released an alert on a CA immigration jail, finding conditions pose “threats to the safety, rights, and health of detainees.” > 40,000 immigrants suffer daily in jails like this. I'll break the report down here (THREAD) 1/oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/…

Keep in mind as you read: ICE inspected this facility in October 2017 AND IT PASSED INSPECTION. This despite numerous deaths at the facility, persistent suicide attempts, and credible reports of dangerously unsafe conditions. 2/ latimes.com/local/lanow/la…

ICE jails a lot of people in Adelanto – up to 1,940 men and women on any given day – and keeps them in jail for an average of 70 days. The jail is run by for-profit private prison giant GEO. 3/ immigrantjustice.org/staff/blog/ice…

The report first sounds alarms about nooses made from braided bed sheets, which OIG inspectors found in 15 of the 20 cells they visited and found to be “very widespread” in the jail. Asked why they don’t remove the nooses, GEO guards shrugged it off as not a high priority. 4/

“Not a high priority.” The lack of humanity is shocking, but even more so in light of Adelanto’s history: in March 2017, Osmar Epifanio Gonzalez-Gadba died after hanging himself from a braided bed sheet in his Adelanto cell. 5/ washingtonpost.com/news/post-nati…

ICE’s review of Mr. Gonzalez-Gadba’s death found that guards conducting rounds of the solitary confinement unit didn't visually confirm his well-being immediately before his death. OIG found this problem persists systemically at Adelanto today. 6/ ice.gov/doclib/foia/re…

The OIG found, broadly, untimely and inadequate medical care, increasing health risks for those in the jail. Over 6 months in 2017/18, people jailed at Adelanto filed 80 grievances for not receiving urgent care and delays in treatment for persistent health conditions. 7/

None of this is news to ICE or GEO. 3 men have died since 2012 at Adelanto due to delays in medical care, including Jose Azurdia Hernandez who died of a heart attack after a nurse refused to examine him because “she did not want to get sick.” More @hrw 8/ immigrantjustice.org/research-items…

The OIG found dental care equally deficient. One man reported to the OIG that he waited 8 months for a dental extraction and another reported having the wrong tooth pulled. There are two dentists on staff to care for nearly 2,000 men and women. 9/

Also documented: harmful and inappropriate use of solitary at Adelanto in violation of ICE’s own detention standards. Of 14 people in solitary when OIG visited, all were placed there before having been found guilty of any prohibited act. 10/ immigrantjustice.org/sites/immigran…

The OIG observed a man in solitary who was blind and limited in English proficiency, without any auxiliary aids or translated materials allowing him to understand why he had been placed there. 11/

The OIG visit to Adelanto was unannounced. The depth of the abuses it uncovered reveals–yet again–how much of a sham ICE is running when it inspects its own facilities and routinely passes them despite deaths, sexual abuse, and rampant human suffering. 12/ immigrantjustice.org/index.php/rese…

ICE and GEO are running this facility literally fueled by systemic negligence and intentional rights violations. For years they've received warnings that their jail is endangering lives and safety. They have learned no lessons, taken no greater care. It's monstrous. 13/

What is happening in Adelanto is not unusual. It is the lived experience of tens of thousands of people every day hidden away in ICE’s secretive and abusive immigration jails. #EndDetention 14/ cjr.org/first_person/r…

Our elected officials are complicit with each dollar they appropriate toward these atrocities. Call your elected officials now and demand they cut funds for immigration detention and enforcement. #DefundHate 15/ action.immigrantjustice.org/p/dia/action4/…