NATCHEZ, Miss. (WJTV) – After an investigation, the U.S. Office of Inspector General found a federal detention center for immigrants in Mississippi violated standards that threatened the health, safety and rights of the detainees.
According to the Clarion Ledger, one detainee died while in custody at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. The violations were discovered during unannounced remote inspections of the Adams County Correctional Facility from January 2021 to February 2021.
According to the July 14 report, the detainee who died requested medical attention on December 17, 2020. He was taken to the medical unit, examined and released. While waiting to return to his cell, the man collapsed and was unable to be resuscitated.
The report said detainees did not follow COVID-19 safety measures, and the facility needed to improve its COVID-19 response, which includes better enforcement of mask wearing and social distancing.
The Clarion Ledger reported seven recommendations were provided for staff at the facility. (The first five recommendations in bullets have been resolved by ICE and improved by investigators.):
- Ensure the Adams medical unit develops emergency care guidelines, documents patient treatment during sick call encounters, and documents interpretation and medical care provided based on laboratory testing results.
- Ensure Adams meets ICE’s COVID-19 requirements for wearing masks and social distancing.
- Ensure Adams reviews classification determinations, documents detainee special vulnerabilities and documents language used to conduct detainee interviews.
- Ensure Adams establishes a grievance tracking system to ensure timely responses to grievances.
- Ensure Adams provides detainees in segregation access to laundry, legal materials, mail, required recreation time outside their cells, the commissary (for those in administrative segregation), ICE request forms and secure drop-boxes.
- Establish a system to ensure timely ICE responses to requests.
- Update ICE’s contract with Adams to better identify requirements for detainee housing.
The newspaper reported the Adams County Correctional Facility is in the process of resolving the last two recommendations.