'Harsh and inhumane' conditions seen at three immigrant detention centers in N.J., report states

Immigrant detainees held at three facilities in New Jersey are subject to "harsh and inhumane conditions,'' and have been served raw and spoiled food (some containing worms or maggots), dirty drinking water, and damaged and insufficient clothing and hygiene products, according to a human rights organization report released this week.

Some of the more than 100 immigrants interviewed by a team of researchers, legal and health professionals from Human Rights First also reported substandard or denial of medical care, lack of proper medication, lack of bathroom privacy and significant weight loss due to poor food quality, according to the report called "Ailing Justice: New Jersey Inadequate Medical and Mental Health Care Services in Immigration Detention."

"Legal professionals who participated in the tours were surprised to note that the conditions of detention were poor or worse than those they had previously observed in criminal correctional facilities,'' the report states. "In recent years, steps have been taken to improve conditions and treatment of individuals in penal institutions, but these reforms have largely failed to benefit people held in immigration detention."

Emilio K. Dabul, a spokesman for ICE in Newark, said that the agency has not reviewed the report.

“While the agency has not had an opportunity to review the report, ICE remains committed to ensuring that all individuals in our custody are held and treated in a safe, secure and humane manner and that they have access to legal counsel, visitation, recreation and quality medical, mental health and dental care,'' he said in an email.

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The researchers visited three detention facilities in New Jersey that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts to hold immigrant detainees. The visits were done earlier this month at the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility in Elizabeth, the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark and the Hudson County Correctional and Rehabilitation Center in Kearny.

James Kennelly, spokesman for Hudson County, said the report was not objective and called it inflammatory. He specifically denounced a section in the report that noted that Dr. Christina Muniz de la Pena, a psychologist, interviewed several detainees and stated that the suicide watch system at the jail "appears to act as a contributor to suicide."

"It paints an unfair picture of the Hudson County correctional facility,'' he said. "We believe the policies in place to address suicide will be effective and we believe the characterization based by Dr. Muniz is without factual basis at worst and at best is an inflammatory description of recent history of the correctional center. "

Philip B. Alagia, the Chief of Staff for Essex County, said he was shocked to hear about the report, and disputed the claims in the report against the Essex County facility, including that it often ran out of water in the units and that water was undrinkable. He also disputed that the food served was often raw and that inmates were not given sufficient clothing.

"When they are in the Essex Corrections facility, they are in the best correctional facility in the state, and we go above and beyond,'' said Alagia, who repeated that the facility undergoes regular inspections and has received various accreditations. "We try our best with visitor access, with recreation...We try to do as much as we can."

Representatives for the Elizabeth facility did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Human Rights First did not visit the Bergen County Jail, which also contracts with ICE and holds immigrant detainees. Immigrant detainees include people who are seeking asylum, those who were stopped at the border, and those who have been issued final orders of removal.

Immigration advocates say reports of substandard medical care, poor conditions, and rights violations are widespread in immigration detention facilities, and there is a growing concern that things will get worse under President Donald Trump, who ran a campaign centered on curbing illegal immigration. Days after he was sworn to office, Trump issued an executive order calling for immigrants to be detained "pending the outcome of their removal proceedings or their removal from the country."

Hope for improvement

Sally Pillay, program director for First Friends of New Jersey and New York, which sends volunteers to visit immigrant detainees at the facilities, said that complaints of inadequate medical care and of poor quality of food are heard often by her volunteers. But she said some of the concerns detailed in the report were new to her, including the maggots found in food and in the showers.

She said she hopes that the report will lead to discussions with those who run the facilities to work toward improvement.

"Hopefully this will propel jails to do something, and show them that advocates are watching, people are watching, that we are asking for accountability,'' she said. "This is a good way for us to have significant conversations in Essex and Elizabeth and that has been lacking in the past."

Pillay is already working with officials at the Hudson County Correctional and Rehabilitation Center, which has been at the center of criticism after the June death of Carlos Mejia-Bonilla, a 44-year-old immigration detainee from El Salvador, who was rushed from the jail to Jersey City Medical Center, where he died the next day. Since Mejia-Bonilla's death, there have been four other inmates at the facility to die in custody, three by suicide.

"Even though we are advocating for the immigrant detainee population,we have to be also be thinking of the inmate population because those folks can fall through the crack as well because no one is shining a light on those cases,'' Pillay said.

She said that Hudson County has already begun to make changes to address concerns raised by advocates after each of the deaths.

"So much attention has been paid to Hudson, but this is addressing not only Hudson, which is a good thing,'' she said.

The Hudson County jail holds about 1,200 people. About half are held for federal immigration visa violations under a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement; others are detained on local criminal charges.

In a report submitted to the Hudson County Board of Freeholders at its Jan. 31 meeting, Ronald Edwards, director of the county's Department of Corrections, listed several changes at the jail including updated suicide policy and creating a suicide task force. He also noted that they conducted a complete audit of all chronic cases of the jail population to ensure proper treatment, educated medical providers on patient protocols, and ceased a practice of waiting for ICE approvals for certain medical procedures for immigrant detainees.

Visits at facilities

As part of their visit to the three facilities, the teams toured the sites, met with ICE and facility staff, and held individual and group interviews with more than 100 detained immigrants, according to the report.

They found unhygienic and unsanitary conditions, including insufficient ventilation at the Elizabeth facility which the report says, has caused years of dust buildup near the ceilings and on the walls, which causes many to suffer from allergies or asthma.

Several detained individuals in Hudson who work in the kitchen complained that the food carts, trays and dishes are frequently left unwashed and that when they are cleaned dirty water is used to wash them. One individual at the Elizabeth reported that he has received food with worms or maggots in it.

Detainees at all three facilities said they received insufficient clothing and hygiene products, and some women said they didn't receive enough underwear and insufficient sanitary pads.

Several detainees also alleged repeated instances of racism, discrimination, harassment from detention facility officers, according to the report. And at the three medical facilities, the report states, ICE, the facilities, and subcontractors failed to provide adequate medical care, such as inadequate health care screenings at intake, and outright denial of medical care and dental care and delays in receiving treatment.

Mental health care, the report states, is also unavailable or difficult to access.

"Almost everyone we interviewed reported high levels of stress and anxiety,'' the report reads. "This stress and anxiety stem from a variety of factors, including lack of sleep, poor nutrition, unhygienic conditions, uncomfortable sleeping arrangments, isolation, boredom, untreated medical and mental health problems, and the uncertainty regarding their legal cases."

Human Rights First recommends that the facilities should ensure "fair and consistent" release processes, and offer affordable bonds to immigrants and asylum seekers.

That recommendation may be difficult to address under a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down Tuesday that ruled that certain immigrants in detention are not entitled to periodic bond hearings and could be held indefinitely.

The report also recommended that adequate medical and mental health care be provided, that each facility implement an independent medical oversight board, adopt civil detention standards, improve food and water quality and inspect food and water regularly, and increase oversight of facility staff, as well as improve access to legal counsel.