Environment / Photo Essay / May 15, 2025

Investigating the alleged contaminated water crisis at the Northwest Detention Center.

By. Rico Moore

This story was produced by The Margin in collaboration with The Nation.
Please note this article contains mention of suicide, self-harm, and sexual violence.

Near gale force winds stretched nimbostratus clouds that resembled alpine peaks turned sideways above the heavily industrialized zone known as the Tacoma Tideflats on a Saturday afternoon in mid-March. Concertina wire spiraled down the top of the chain-link fence marking the western edge of E. J Street. A nearby train engine billowed diesel exhaust, contaminating the wind. Its unmistakable stench stung the nostrils. Reflections of the compound buildings appeared in pools of rainwater and pulsed and blurred with each passing breeze. From the south, a big wind rose, slanting heavy raindrops against a group of some 40 protesters led by La Resistencia. They stood together with protest signs that folded and unfolded in the wind and rain. Inside soaked jackets, members and allies of the activist organization stood in solidarity against the Northwest ICE Processing Center, also known as the Northwest Detention Center, which is owned by The GEO Group and is contracted by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), which is within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The facility houses all genders. 

The detention center imprisons people who are suspected of violating civil immigration laws. While immigrants detained in the facility are from countries across the globe, many are from Latin America, one of several regions that has felt the brunt of European colonization and American imperialism. The impacts of these forces have made life in the countries unlivable for many, forcing people to migrate. However, when they reach the borders of the countries, including the United States, which have contributed to or caused their displacement, they are met with hostility and immigration policies that turn their plight into profit.

The GEO Group acquired Corrections Services Corporation and its detention facility in a heavily industrialized area, allegedly exposing immigrants to numerous sources of pollution. Over nearly 30 years, numerous test pits and groundwater monitoring wells, both immediately adjacent to and beneath the detention facility site, have revealed the presence of petroleum products, including diesel, gasoline, and heavy oil. Furthermore, the detention facility has a notorious reputation due to years of documented human rights abuses.

Despite these man-made forces, La Resistencia movement leaders and their allies are standing up to fight the facility and what it represents, mindful of those who’ve been targeted and whose rights have been taken, just as so many of their ancestors’ labor, land, and natural resources were—and continue to be—taken. The GEO Group is paid by the federal government to house people there, and is guaranteed a minimum number of detainees, causing the people detained in the facility to be valued as commodities. 

As the rain continued to pour, the protesters were quickly drenched, yet they remained, resolute and unified in their demands. Rufina Reyes, director of the La Resistencia, led the group by declaring: “¡No están solo!” Her voice was amplified loud enough for the sound waves to echo off the detention facility’s walls. The crowd echoed in unison, “You are not alone!” The sound waves of the calls interweaved like a multilingual prayer sanctified by the heavy rain and wind.

“We’re opposed to detentions and deportations, and we don’t want any more family separation!” Reyes shouted through an interpreter.

The volcanic mountain known as Tahoma towered above the valley and flatlands. Prior to the construction of the GEO Group’s detention facility, the site was a rich tidal estuary, known by many names, and was the ancestral homeland of the Puyallup people since time immemorial. Following colonization, conflict, and the eventual signing of the Treaty of Medicine Creek in 1854, the land was settled by American immigrants. Still, the Puyallup Tribe retains certain rights over the area as a result of the 1854 treaty and the subsequent Land Claims Settlement Act of 1990.

The Northwest Detention Center and Surrounding Polluters

In the immediate area where the detention facility would be built, fill was brought in or dredged from the river estuary to serve as a foundation for a meat processing and packing plant that opened in 1904, a Standard Oil fuel storage and distribution facility that opened in 1905, and a coal gasification plant that opened in 1924. The coal gasification plant operated until 1956 and was demolished in 1966. The fuel storage and distribution facility, later owned by Chevron, operated through 1988 and included 13 above-ground and four underground fuel storage tanks, three petroleum pipelines, and numerous garages. The GEO Group now owns the site and parks its vehicles on it. A metals recycling facility was constructed immediately southeast of the future detention site by 1967. This facility recycled cars and electrical transformers, polluting the area with PCBs and heavy metals. The coal gasification site, the meatpacking site, and the metals recycling site would later be designated as a Superfund site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

The Washington State Department of Ecology has stated that the EPA Superfund site around the detention facility is remediated, “capped” by layers of supposedly impermeable barriers, asphalt, and crumbled cement from the meatpacking facility. It now resembles an innocuous mound covered, bizarrely, in green grass. But an underground benzene plume exists just below the surface, not far from the southern edge of the property line where the detention facility now stands.

In 1988, a 3,500-gallon underground oil storage tank had to be removed, and along with it, 376 tons (752,000 pounds) of petroleum-affected soil and over 8,000 gallons of petroleum-affected groundwater. Yet more remained. Adding to the petroleum contamination, the nearby Standard Oil facility, which Chevron now owns, leaked petroleum products into the soil, contaminating the surrounding groundwater. Washington state Department of Ecology’s groundwater monitoring wells have detected diesel and heavy oil in wells just outside the walls of the detention facility as recently as November 2024.

Contaminated Groundwater Surrounding the Detention Center

MTCA Method A Cleanup Levels is a regulatory approach used under Washington State’s Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) to establish acceptable levels of contaminants in soil, groundwater, and other environmental media during site cleanups.

In 1996, Correction Services Corporation, now owned by GEO Group, began searching for a site to build a migrant detention facility near Seattle. After considering several locations in neighboring towns, they ultimately landed on 1623 E. J Street in Tacoma. Then Tacoma City Council member Kevin Phelps was a vocal supporter of this location, citing economic benefits, specifically business and occupation taxes the city would garner. GEO Group was issued contract revenue bonds by The Washington Economic Development Finance Authority in 2003 for $57,415,000 and in 2011 for $54,375,000 to construct and expand the facility. Washington Representatives at the time, Adam Smith and Norm Dicks worked alongside Tacoma city leaders to persuade GEO Group to seek to build the facility atop the Superfund site. Dick and Smith didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment. Senator Patty Murray would also support the site’s construction of this facility on this location as early as 2002. Smith later opposed the GEO Group’s facility receiving another contract. Murray later scrutinized the facility, but nonetheless had accepted campaign contributions from the GEO Group in the amount of $5,000 in 2016. Senator Murray and her staff didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment for this story. Along with Representative Pramila Jayapal, Smith wrote a letter in July 2024 to the then-secretary of DHS urging it to move away from the use of private for-profit migrant detention facilities. Jayapal previously founded a non-profit organization that partnered with the Seattle University School of Law to produce a report on the human rights abuses at the facility.

The city council adopted a resolution approving the facility on March 28, 2000, stating, “CSC [GEO Group] has an excellent reputation in the communities where it has facilities.” However, a local news report published in 2004, when the facility was being finished and opened, cited a 1995 riot at another GEO-acquired facility (under the name of Esmor Correctional Services) in New Jersey that led to a federal investigation. “Three guards at the facility were later convicted of misconduct and sent to prison,” a Tacoma News Tribune report stated as the Northwest Detention Center was about to open. 

Between 2018 and 2024, GEO Group paid Pierce County, where the detention facility is located, roughly $5,643,100 in property taxes. The city responded to questions about the total amount paid by GEO Group in business and occupation taxes, stating that such information could not be divulged because it is confidential.

The GEO Group, Inc., based in Boca Raton, Florida, has received $6.85 billion since July 2009 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which, since 2003, has included ICE. $995.08 million of this has been obligated to the GEO Group in Washington state. Congress’s 2025 Trump-supported continuing resolution allocates nearly $10 billion for ICE. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) estimated that the continuing resolution allocates approximately $350 billion for immigration enforcement and argues, however, that it does not include checks and balances on Trump’s mass detention and deportation plans, nor allow for a legal pathway to citizenship. “Under our legal system, the rule of law also requires fairness and respect for due process, but the Trump-controlled Senate rejected any proposal to inject those principles into the bill passed yesterday,” stated AILA Executive Director Ben Johnson in a press release. 

Trump has recently defied court orders regarding the detention and deportation of migrants, invoking a law used to justify the internment of Japanese-Americans, German-Americans, and Italian-Americans during World War II to loosely classify some Venezuelans as members of Tren de Aragua, a gang designated as a foreign terrorist organization by his administration, without due process of law. Trump’s framing of non-white migrants as criminals and subhuman since his political rise in 2015 has served as the basis for his policies that disproportionately target vulnerable non-white people who once immigrated to the U.S.

Meanwhile, those within the financial industry are profiting from the Trump Administration’s policies’ “potential sea change.” GEO Group’s top five shareholders are BlackRock, Inc., Vanguard Group, Inc., Wolf Hill Capital Management, LP, FMR, LLC, and Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. as of December 31, 2024.

Pam Bondi, Trump’s current Attorney General, was formerly a lobbyist for the GEO Group, which has contributed over $2.7 billion to Trump and Republicans from 2016 to 2024, including members of Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 election and promoted the Big Lie that the election was stolen. Two days after Trump’s re-election on November 5th, 2024, GEO Group Executive Chairman George Zoley told his company’s shareholders during an earnings call that Trump’s “more aggressive policy” toward interior and border immigration enforcement means a “potential sea change” for the company he leads. “The GEO Group was built for this unique moment in our company’s—country’s history and the opportunities that it will bring,” Zoley said. He said GEO Group could increase the number of detainee beds from 13,500 to 31,000. In the days following Trump’s election, the value of GEO Group stock nearly doubled and peaked on January 21, 2025, Trump’s Inauguration Day.

The apparent commoditization of human beings, in addition to allegations that migrants detained are essentially forced labor, is reminiscent of some of the darkest chapters of human history. Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, recently suggested Trump’s aspirational deportation machine should run more like a business, treating people like products being shipped. 
Before and between Trump’s terms, Democrats also sought to expand the role of DHS and ICE. The Biden administration took actions to expand immigration detention prior to the end of his term. Then Vice President and two-time presidential candidate Harris clearly stated her opposition to migration from Central and South America when, in June 2021, she spoke in Guatemala, unequivocally, saying to potential migrants, “Do not come. Do not come.”

A Long Record of Human Rights Abuses

La Resistencia has dedicated over eleven years to shutting down the migrant detention center. Its Founder, Maru Mora-Villalpando, grew up in Mexico and was influenced by strong leaders, including her mother and grandfather, a union leader. They taught her the importance of supporting laborers on strike, which, she said, was common in Mexico. She recalled working to support striking workers by getting on a public bus, shaking a can with coins, requesting donations while talking with people about the importance of supporting striking workers, and passing out informational flyers. She also recalled riding with her mother and passing a group of striking workers when she was young. Their flag was grayed from age, and her mother said this was because of how long they’d been fighting, adding, “We also need to support them. In order for them to win, we all need to support them.” “They end[ed] up winning,” she said.

ICE has allegedly targeted Mora-Villalpando specifically, as well as other activists, including, more recently, Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, a farm labor rights activist who is currently being detained at the GEO Group facility. According to a lawsuit filed, in part, on her behalf as well as on behalf of other activists allegedly targeted by ICE, Mora-Villalpando was surveilled, then explicitly targeted by ICE, which initiated deportation proceedings against her, specifically for her activism defending human and immigrant rights. DHS ultimately dropped deportation charges against Mora-Villalpando. The lawsuit is ongoing.

On September 15, 2024, La Resistencia posted on Instagram stating, “URGENT. Yesterday a woman in the women’s unit at NWDC suffered [a] fainting [sic] and headaches that were caused by a strong smell of gas. #GEO staff failed to address this issue.” According to Mora-Villalpando, this woman was taken for medical observation and returned an hour later. People detained and impacted said the strong smell of gas and sulfur was unbearable. They thought it was coming from the air conditioning vent, mentioning the door to the yard was left open because of it. According to detained people, one GEO officer said they, too, were suffering from a headache due to the smell of gas. Other GEO officers who later came into the unit stated they couldn’t smell anything, according to detained persons familiar with the event, who opined it was because they didn’t want to acknowledge a possible gas leak. Unit B-3 is located in the northernmost part of the detention facility, where groundwater and soil monitoring and tests have revealed for over 30 years the presence of diesel fuel and heavy oil.

More recently, on a video posted on March 12, a person detained at the GEO Group’s facility stated via video chat to leaders of La Resistencia that clothes coming back laundered are still wet, smell like mildew, and “smell like diesel fuel.” The laundry room is also located in the northernmost part of the detention facility. Mora-Villalpando stated that a fire occurred in this area the previous year, which she and others witnessed while outside in solidarity. 
According to Mora-Villalpando and Liliana Chumpitasi, leader and community organizer with La Resistencia, these instances weren’t the first time detainees smelled gas in the facility. The group reported to The Margin that detained people identified the smell of gas when the sinks were clogged, and water was leaking from above the showers. In another incident detailed by the group, detained people communicated to La Resistencia that a gas smell also came from the showers. Per a 2024 lawsuit, the Washington State Department of Health has fielded over 700 complaints in the past year from people detained in the GEO Group’s facility, including reports that “the water is brown and possibly contaminated.”

The project lead of the state’s toxics cleanup of the Chevron bulk terminal facility, Thomas Praisewater, stated in an interview with The Margin that while he has not heard about any toxins, it is hypothetically possible these toxins have infiltrated the detention facility’s drinking water. Praisewater has been working with Chevron’s consultant, AECOM, on the cleanup of the bulk fuel storage and distribution facility that was once across the street, a site now occupied by vehicles used by ICE and GEO. 

Another expert has also said petroleum products may have made their way up through the soil and into the detention facility’s water pipes. Marc A. Edwards, a Distinguished Professor in environmental and water resources engineering at Virginia Tech, told The Margin that gas and other petroleum products can go through or diffuse through porous plastic water pipes. Edwards, who worked on the scientific team that found lead contamination in the drinking water of Flint, Michigan, said, in particular, polyethylene pipes are susceptible to such infiltration. Praisewater made similar statements that if there is, in fact, contamination, it would likely be because of a break or corrosion in the detention facility’s water system. Furthermore, it is unclear if GEO Group installed vapor intrusion barriers, rather than vapor barriers; the former being designed to potentially prevent infiltration of toxic chemicals. A 2009 toxicological evaluation by the EPA of the NWDC indicated that a vapor intrusion barrier was not installed.

The City of Tacoma water department told The Margin that municipal water piped to the facility is clean. According to records from the City of Tacoma in 2009 and 2010, the city approved occupancy permits for renovations to the building based on GEO Group’s detention facility building permit, which meets the 2006 International Building Code standards, requiring third-party certified plastic pipes that conform to NSF 14 standards. NSF 14 standards include polyethylene pipes. The Margin is waiting for the release of records requested via state open records laws from the city to further determine the potential water contamination. 

Despite state legislation requiring the Washington State Department of Health to monitor air and water quality in facilities such as the GEO Group’s detention facility that was signed into law May 11, 2023 as House Bill 1470, the company has fought and denied at least four attempts to inspect the water in all parts of the facility, only allowing access to the lobby and its bathroom. The state health department attempted to test the water in the detention facility but was denied access by GEO facility administrators acting on behalf of ICE supervisors. Joe Wesley Barbee, Jr., the distribution optimization advisor for the operations and training section of the state health department office of drinking water, stated in a declaration included in a lawsuit filed by the state against the GEO Group, that the Department of Health received complaints from individuals detained in GEO Group’s facility between April 2023 and mid-July 2024. 

Barbee described these complaints as being about the water’s temperature, color, smell, and the absence of water from faucets. “Detainees have complained about incidents where there is no water to drink, flush toilets, or otherwise use, and other incidents where the tap water is brown,” he stated. But when Barbee arrived at the GEO Group’s facility, he was met by the facility administrator, Bruce Scott, and two unidentified people, who allowed him only to test water from a faucet in a restroom near the front lounge area, apart from the secured part of the facility where detainees are held. “The testing environment was under intense scrutiny by the facility staff and the supervisor, who asked questions about every step and every chemical/reagent I used,” Barbee stated in the lawsuit. He added that typically, a water test in a bathroom sink wouldn’t be acceptable for quality tests. “The administrator asked for identical samples of any water I took,” Barbee said.

“I welcome them to prove us wrong, but they closed their doors even more,” said Representative Lillian Ortiz-Self (WA-21), who introduced House Bill 1232 in the state legislature that amends parts of House Bill 1470, which a federal judge partly blocked, saying it singled out GEO Group. HB 1232, which amended the law to include other facilities, was passed by the legislature on April 14 along party lines and signed into law by Governor Bob Ferguson on May 12. Part of the current legislation would require the Department of Health to specifically investigate complaints, monitor air and water quality, and publicly report findings on routine unannounced inspections of the facility, and to post these results in multiple languages for detainees and the public. It would also expand the facilities it covers to facilities other than the GEO Group detention facility in Tacoma. GEO Group had argued that HB 1470 was unconstitutional, alleging it violated the Constitution’s supremacy clause, stating ICE was the authority that denied the state access to the entire facility. “They have refused to be more transparent, and instead, the complaints have doubled and continue to increase. We continue to have hunger strikes and complaints and suicide attempts,” Rep. Ortiz-Self told The Margin. “A couple questions come to mind: How much money do you want to make off of people suffering? And you know we’re looking at you, so do you care that little that you think you can continue to treat people this way? And if you’re treating them that way, knowing that we have our eyes on you, what’s really happening inside? We’re really scared for everyone that’s in there,” she said. “What are they hiding?” Rep. Ortiz-Self asked.

U.S. Marshals have recently confirmed a separate GEO Group detention facility in Laredo, Texas, to be exposing detainees to carbon monoxide, which families of the detainees allege sicken detainees without adequate medical treatment. GEO Group previously denied the presence of the deadly gas. The local fire department required GEO Group to take corrective action, according to an April 17th KGNS news report.

In addition to having no choice but to drink potentially contaminated water, independent experts have alleged human rights abuses in complaints since the GEO detention facility was first opened in 2004.

A 2008 report by OneAmerica and the International Human Rights Clinic at Seattle University School of Law identified major issues, including the unnecessary detention of refugees, conditions violating legal due process protections, especially the forced signing of papers, lack of access to attorneys, and failure to ensure confidential communications. Other concerns included overcrowding and lack of privacy, inadequate emergency medical care and pain management, inhuman and degrading treatment by guards and U.S. Marshals, failure to adequately address mental health issues and punitive segregation of those with mental health problems, extremely poor quality and quantity of food, inadequate visitation time, and long waits and inadequate access to telephones. Several reports by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) have documented similar abuses since then. These include complaints of being served uncooked or worm-infested food, allegations of medical neglect, extensive use of solitary confinement, COVID-19 response and health standard issues, reports of sexual assault and abuse going unanswered, and complaints about the use of force and chemical agents.

Suicide attempts at the facility are another especially significant issue. The UWCHR obtained 911 calls and detailed at least six suicide attempts from January 1 to March 18, 2024, alone. From August 2017 to April 2023, the UWCHR identified at least an additional 12 suicide attempts as categorized by South Sound 911. A man with Russian citizenship who was seeking asylum died following a suicide attempt while detained in segregation (or what UWCHR would define as solitary confinement). Records of 911 calls obtained by The Margin via open records law detail at least an additional eight suicide attempts since April 2023. In one of the most recent attempts on February 9, 2025, a detention facility representative tells a 911 dispatcher that medical assistance is needed for a man who had cut his wrists. A 2024 report by the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman found the detention center did not consistently complete 15-minute checks of detainees on suicide watch, and did not strictly control and collect disposable razors. Another 911 call obtained by The Margin via open records law details a man who had hit his head “multiple times” on the wall. In yet another recent suicide attempt, on March 12, a man jumped off the upper tier to the lower tier, according to a 911 audio recording obtained by The Margin.

This audio contains sensitive material that may be distressing to some listeners, including discussions of violence, trauma, or strong language.

911 Records obtained by The Margin via public records law give a very general description of numerous other incidents, including 17 calls regarding molestation/groping from October 2021 through January 2025, and six calls alleging rape from February 2023 through June 2024. In a report published in 2022, the UWCHR reviewed several data sources from approximately 2012 to 2019 and found 63 reports of sexual assault or abuse. These included allegations by detainees against other detainees, alleged harassment by a GEO Group officer, and alleged sexual assault by medical staff. More recently, on April 24, UWCHR published a report finding the City of Tacoma Police Department failed to respond to allegations of assault and sexual assault made by detainees.

A City of Tacoma spokesperson provided the following response via email: “We are currently reviewing the concerns outlined in the report recently published by the University of Washington. If our review identifies opportunities to better align with our mission in serving those at the [NWDC], we are committed to making necessary improvements and further strengthening our procedures. Our goal is to ensure that safety, security, and respect for rights remain central to our role.”

People detained at the NWDC have also died there. On March 7, 2024, Charles Leo Daniel died while in solitary confinement of undetermined causes. According to UWHRC, Daniel had spent nearly the entirety of his four years at the NWDC in solitary confinement despite being classified as having significant mental illness. La Resistencia told The Margin Senator Patty Murray was touring the facility the day of his death. On October 27, 2024, Jose Manuel Sanchez-Castro also died at the NWDC. According to reporting by The Seattle Times, he was in fentanyl withdrawal. Yet autopsy results have yet to be released. In 2018, another person died by suicide at the NWDC, according to a press release from Rep. Jayapal, who stated that when she visited the facility following Daniel’s death, she wasn’t allowed to speak with detained people.

Angelina Godoy, Director of the UWCHR, told The Margin there’s a total lack of accountability regarding the GEO Group’s detention facility in Tacoma because the systems that are there to provide accountability, such as Congress, have utterly failed, “to take any effective action to ensure that conditions within the Northwest Detention Center are even up to ICE’s own standards, which would fall far below international human rights standards.”

The recent UWCHR report states “Conditions are critical within the NWDC today, and outside facility walls, we are all witness to a still-unfolding series of federal government policies that revel in the cruel and public dehumanization of immigrants.”

The state’s lawsuit against the GEO Group, which seeks to prevent GEO Group from denying the entry of state officials under state law to investigate complaints, states, “As alleged, these complaints present clear threats to detainee health and safety at [the detention facility].” The Margin has requested these complaints via state public records law but has yet to receive them. The Washington State Department of Health, currently in litigation with the GEO Group, has declined to provide an interview to The Margin on the matter.  

A Washington State Department of Health spokesperson stated in an emailed response to The Margin: “The Washington State Department of Health is aware of many of these and other complaints. We are committed to gain entry to the facility and investigate these complaints. The Northwest ICE Processing Center continues to deny entry to our staff. We are hopeful that the federal courts will bring clarity to the department’s authority and that the facility will allow entry for investigations, transparency, and the welfare of all people inside the facility.”

A GEO Group Spokesperson provided the following response via email: “The support services GEO provides at… the Northwest ICE Processing Center, are governed by ICE’s detention standards. GEO’s services are carefully monitored for quality by ICE personnel, who are onsite 24/7… The locations where GEO supports ICE are also independently accredited by the American Correctional Association, as well as the National Commission on Correctional Health Care…”

A GEO Group spokesperson further stated via email: “GEO strongly disagrees with the allegations that have been made regarding the services we provide at the Northwest ICE Processing Center. These allegations are part of a long-standing, politically motivated, and radical campaign to abolish ICE and end federal immigration detention by attacking the federal government’s immigration facility contractors. GEO has comprehensive policies in place for the reporting and investigation of all incidents that occur at the Center, including instances of assault and/or sexual assault. These policies are governed by Performance-Based National Detention Standards (“PBNDS”) established by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”

The GEO Group provided these general responses, but did not respond to The Margin’s detailed questions.

“That’s what detention centers are… an extension of the prison system.”

Rufina Reyes, director of La Resistencia, hails from Guerrero state, Mexico. She emigrated to the U.S. in 2000 because of a lack of economic opportunity. “I’m Mexican,” Reyes said through an interpreter. “I’m an immigrant. I consider myself undocumented. I’m a mom, I’m a wife, and I believe that most of the people that are in La Resistencia are here because we have been affected by the system.” Reyes has held a work permit for the past two years. Reyes’ brother fled his home in Mexico following his kidnapping by a local organized crime group. Fortunately, he was released, unlike many others, according to Reyes, who have been disappeared. He came to the U.S. and was later detained in the NWDC. She went to find her brother at the detention center, and when she came out, La Resistencia was holding an action outside. She began volunteering with La Resistencia, answering phone calls on the group’s hotline. 

Some of the most impactful calls, she said, were those in which the person on the other end of the line said that they wanted to harm themselves or when she found out one person had died inside. This intimacy with despair and injustice catalyzed her, and she realized she had to do something more about it. “I have to continue fighting this, not just for my brother, but because possibly one day also I may be in there, and so I want to keep fighting for every single person that is not able to defend themselves,” she said. 

In addition to the violence and corruption of her home state, climate change has brought intensified cycles of drought and flooding that have made it extremely difficult for people to subsistence farm or grow food to sell there. As a result, so many have been forced to migrate, she added. Climate change impacts have been overwhelmingly driven by countries of the Global North, including the U.S. 

Reyes recounted how Mora-Villalpando reached out to her when she walked out of the detention facility in Tacoma after visiting her brother. “She told me who she was, she offered support, and she told me a little bit about what the people were talking about, the conditions inside. She said, ‘You’re not alone. Here’s my number. Call me if anything comes up,” Reyes said. Reyes has since risen through the ranks of La Resistencia to direct the Organization, as Mora-Villalpando has transitioned to an advisory position.

“I call it a detention center because everybody knows them as detention centers, but they’re cages,” Mora-Villalpando said. “That’s the result of allowing governments to decide who’s worthy of what. If you are forced to migrate, you’re already being shaped into what you’re supposed to be, what you’re supposed to have, and what you’re not supposed to have, and what you don’t have is because ‘you deserve it,’” she said ironically. 

She said an ideology is formed where people agree that some people deserve to be caged. “That’s what detention centers are,” she said. “I’ve always said they’re an extension of the prison system.” In this case, the private, for-profit prison system.
“The idea has been not only how these white invaders took over our continents,” she added, “but how they continue to be exploiting. They already have our land, they already have our labor, they already have our mind, and now they want to have our bodies to further capital—by having these cages, these storage places, where you [store] people like boxes, and you still make money off them,” she concluded.

November 30, 2020

This report is part of a series regarding Human Rights Conditions at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, based on ongoing research efforts and released to highlight initial findings in the urgent context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Background, Methodology, and Human Rights Standards
• Sanitation of Food and Laundry
• Allegations of Medical Neglect
• Use of Solitary Confinement
• COVID-19 and Health Standards
• Reporting of Sexual Assault and Abuse
• Uses of Force and Chemical Agents
• Patterns of Neglect in TPD Response to Abuse and Assault
• Research Update: Three Years of Cleanliness Concerns, No Consequences
• Research Update: Charles Leo Daniel’s Death at NWDC in Context

← Previous section: Allegations of Medical Neglect

Solitary confinement at the Northwest Detention Center

Through years of litigation against the Department of Homeland Security, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights has obtained documents that provide a detailed look at the use of solitary confinement (also known as segregation) in the Northwest Detention Center.^[1] These documents, to our knowledge the first of their kind to have been released about any ICE detention facility in the United States, permit a deeper understanding of how segregation is used than has been previously available. In this report, we draw on these records, as well as others released to UWCHR and other researchers, to raise three interrelated concerns about the use of solitary confinement at the NWDC:

1. According to ICE’s data, the Northwest Detention Center detains people longer, on average, in solitary confinement than any other dedicated ICE facility^[2] in the nation.
2. In violation of ICE’s own rules, solitary confinement is frequently used on detained people who are mentally ill and others who exercise their First Amendment rights.
3. GEO and/or ICE systematically under-report the use of segregation in their facilities. The gaps in disclosure are significant: a comparison of internal and external data reveals that as many as 86% of NWDC solitary placements during a one year period were neither logged in ICE’s monitoring system nor reported to the public. In addition, at least one known placement in solitary appears to have never been registered by GEO or ICE.

UWCHR’s research on the NWDC

This report is the fourth in a series regarding Human Rights Conditions at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, based on ongoing research efforts and released to highlight initial findings in the urgent context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our methodology section describes the research our team has conducted since 2017 on the human rights implications of federal immigration enforcement in our state, including the conditions of confinement at Tacoma’s Northwest Detention Center or NWDC.

In this report, we rely in particular on several caches of documents obtained earlier this year from ICE through ongoing litigation under FOIA. These include two datasets for overlapping time periods (May 2013 to May 2018, and September 2013 to March 2020) drawn from ICE’s Segregation Review Management System (SRMS); Significant Incident Reports from January 1, 2015 to September 30, 2019; and grievance forms filed by detained people at the NWDC from February 2015 to January 2, 2018. In addition, we obtained an array of GEO documents, including two datasets of segregation placements created by GEO Group employees, and the facility’s case-by-case documentation for all individuals placed into solitary confinement at the NWDC from January 1, 2018, to March 31, 2020. We complement our review of these records with statements by detained and formerly-detained people, in collaboration with human rights organizations including La Resistencia, the ACLU of Washington, and others; published inspection reports; and federal court filings in the case of Jesús Chávez vs. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Standards for solitary confinement in immigrant detention

ICE’s practices regarding immigration detention defy international human rights standards. International human rights law stipulates that countries should only use civil (or administrative) detention^[3] as a measure of last resort, rather than a routine practice of immigration enforcement.^[4] Furthermore, the UN Standards of Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as the “Nelson Mandela Rules,” state that, “In no circumstances may restrictions or disciplinary sanctions amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The following practices, in particular, shall be prohibited: (a) Indefinite solitary confinement; (b) Prolonged solitary confinement. Prolonged solitary confinement is defined… as solitary confinement for a time period in excess of 15 consecutive days. …The imposition of solitary confinement should be prohibited in the case of prisoners with mental or physical disabilities when their conditions would be exacerbated by such measures.”^[5] In other words, many of the practices discussed in this report are considered torture under international human rights law.

ICE’s own policies on solitary confinement vary by type of facility, but those applicable at the NWDC are articulated both in the detailed Performance-Based National Detention Standards of 2011, last revised in 2016, and in a 2013 directive issued specifically on segregation.^[6] These rules contemplate both disciplinary segregation, a punitive status capped at 30 days “except in extraordinary circumstances,”^[7] which can only be initiated following various steps, including a hearing; and administrative segregation, an ostensibly “non punitive” status used to isolate detainees for their own protection or that of the facility itself.^[8] Each type of detention generates different forms of mandatory review and reporting. In addition, cells intended for solitary confinement are occasionally used for medical isolation, a practice advocates have criticized as detrimental to the health of detained people suffering from infectious diseases like varicella and COVID-19.^[9]

ICE database shows NWDC solitary placements longest in the nation

Journalists,^[10] policymakers,^[11] whistleblowers,^[12] and community activists have long raised concerns about the use of solitary confinement in ICE detention. In 2019, the Project on Government Oversight^[13] and the International Commission of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)^[14] published important analyses of the use of segregation in ICE detention, using data obtained via FOIA from ICE’s “Segregation Review Management System” (SRMS) database. Similar information was released to UWCHR researchers in response to our own FOIA request. This data shows that the NWDC held people in solitary confinement, on average, longer than any other ICE dedicated facility in the nation.^[15]

Indeed, solitary stays are longer at NWDC than similar facilities by a large margin. At the NWDC, stays in segregation averaged almost 70 days,^[16] 29% longer than any other dedicated detention facility. The national average during this period was approximately 30 days.

Figure 1: Average Length of Reported Segregation Stays – Top 15 Dedicated ICE Facilities

During the nearly seven-year period for which SRMS data was provided to the UWCHR, more than 80% of reported placements in segregation at the NWDC experienced treatment considered torture according to international human rights standards.^[17]

It is important to keep in mind that overall—not just in solitary—people are detained longer on average at NWDC than at other facilities; this general tendency may be reflected in the longer stays in solitary. The average length of overall detention at NWDC, 97 days during FY 2018,^[18] was more than double the national average of about 47 days in FY 2018.^[19] This ranks among the longest in the nation when compared to similar facilities.^[20]

In 2020, pursuant to ongoing litigation, UWCHR researchers received a new cache of documents from ICE. Significantly, these documents included two quantitative datasets of solitary placements compiled by employees of GEO Group, the private prison company that owns and operates the NWDC under contract with ICE. (In the past, ICE has asserted that such materials can only be obtained from GEO directly, and GEO has declined to respond to FOIA requests, citing its status as a private company.) The GEO datasets paint a significantly different picture: they included solitary stays of shorter than 14 days not captured in SRMS data,^[21] but also include a significantly larger number of solitary placements longer than 14 days, as shown in the table below.^[22] While it is unclear why so many discrepancies were found between these databases, it appears that the SRMS data released to UWCHR and other researchers may significantly underreport the number of solitary placements at the NWDC. We return to the question of underreporting in section 3 of this report.

Table 1. NWDC segregation datasets released to UWCHR

Dataset	Time period	Total completed placements	Average stay length[23]	Median stay length	Max stay length	# of stays > 14 days
RHU(GEO segregation lieutenant’s spreadsheet)	2015-01-03 to 2020-05-28	2457	14.08	4	693	480
SMU[24](GEOtrack report by housing assignment)	2013-06-27 to 2020-03-30	3433	9.98	3	488	598
SRMS 1(Placements reported to ICE, first installment)	2013-05-13 to 2018-05-14	357	59.61	30	781	296
SRMS 2(Placements reported to ICE, second installment)	2013-09-03 to 2020-03-16	453	59.41	31	691	387

Solitary confinement and mental illness

The devastating mental health consequences of prolonged detention in isolation are well-known.^[25] For this reason, international human rights law requires particular attention to the needs of vulnerable groups, including the mentally ill. The Nelson Mandela Rules for the treatment of prisoners stipulate, in Rule 45, paragraph 2: “The imposition of solitary confinement should be prohibited in the case of prisoners with mental or physical disabilities when their conditions would be exacerbated by such measures.”^[26]

ICE’s own guidelines recognize the perils of detention for the mentally ill,^[27] and mandate extra caution regarding the use of solitary for this population. ICE’s 2013 directive notes that “placement in administrative segregation due to a special vulnerability should be used only as a last resort and when no other viable housing options exist”; mental illness is among the vulnerabilities noted.^[28] Relatedly, ICE’s Performance Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS 2011) require that “every effort shall be made to place detainees with serious mental illness in a setting in or outside of the facility in which appropriate treatment can be provided, rather than an SMU [Special Management Unit], if separation from the general population is necessary.”^[29]

Despite this, a 2019 report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) concluded that across the nation, ICE relies on solitary confinement “to house detainees they simply don’t know what to do with.”^[30] Similarly,^[31] Project on Government Oversight (POGO) researchers found that nationwide, roughly 40% of reported segregation placements involved people who had been diagnosed with mental illness.^[32]

Similar rates were found at NWDC, where 34% of solitary placements recorded by the ICE SRMS from September 2013-March 2020 involved people whose records were flagged to indicate the person had been diagnosed with a mental illness.^[33] Six placements listed “mental illness” as the reason for their placement in solitary. The longest placement of an individual in solitary confinement for reasons of mental illness was 147 days; on average, people detained at NWDC who were placed in solitary for mental health reasons spent approximately 38 days in segregation.^[34] This clearly runs afoul of international standards, which mandate caution for the placement of mentally ill prisoners in solitary at all, and expressly prohibit solitary stays longer than 15 days for any prisoner, considering it tantamount to torture.^[35]

At the same time, there may be reason for concern that these figures fail to account for all those with mental illness confined in segregation. In the records UWCHR reviewed, of the six solitary placements at NWDC identified as being necessary for reasons of mental illness, only half were of individuals who were actually flagged in the system as being mentally ill.

Figure 2: Reported NWDC Segregation Placements by Mental Illness Category

Other sources have noted a failure to identify and track cases of mental illness at the NWDC. In 2014, ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight Inspection report noted that more than half of the medical records reviewed in the NWDC inspection process did not include medical or psychiatric alerts as required.^[36] As noted in our recent report on medical neglect, employees of the facility’s medical team also appear to have denounced failures to detect mental illness: in 2018, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General received information from a source within the US Public Health Service—the institution whose staff provide health care at the NWDC, through the ICE Health Service Corps—about the NWDC’s failure to detect serious mental illness in a specific detained person. According to the source, the individual had a significant psychiatric history, but “had not been identified by facility mental health staff as having met seriously mentally ill (SMI) criteria, therefore, he was not closely monitored and tracked in order to determine whether he received appropriate care and follow-up care.”^[37]

Internal GEO records from more recent years suggest similar patterns may persist. A record of assignment to administrative segregation from October 23, 2017, notes that a man has returned to the NWDC after a stay at an outside hospital and has been placed in solitary confinement because of his “irrational” behavior. Despite having been in segregation for three days at the time the document was written, its author notes that he has yet to have received a medical screening.

Document 1 – Northwest Detention Center Administrative Detention Order, October 23, 2017

Of course, placement in solitary confinement often exacerbates existing mental illness, resulting in worse health outcomes, sometimes including suicide. Unfortunately, the details of the 2018 suicide of Mergansana Amar while in solitary at the NWDC remain unclear; while public officials, including Governor Inslee^[38] demanded an independent inspection take place following his death, the results of any such investigation conducted have not been made public.

In 2014, ICE whistleblower Ellen Gallagher described mentally ill people detained at other ICE facilities cycling “chronically back and forth from the general population to administrative or disciplinary segregation, with periodic, crisis-oriented admissions to psychiatric hospitals punctuating their return to the same disturbing cycle.”^[39] This tendency appears to underlie some of the experiences documented in NWDC records who are shuttled between solitary confinement, the general population, and outside facilities.

For example, ICE records document the experience of a 22-year-old Nicaraguan who attempted suicide multiple times while at NWDC, according to ICE’s internal documents. The first attempt occurred while he was confined to Segregation (H-Unit) despite having a history of self-harm, in June 2017:

Document 2 – ICE Significant Incident Report, June 9, 2017

In August of the same year, he was again taken to the hospital for engaging in self harm, though the document notes he was assigned to the general population at the time:

Document 3 – ICE Significant Incident Report, August 28, 2017

In September, he was admitted to an offsite mental health care facility:

Document 4 – ICE Significant Incident Report, September 12, 2017

In another example, ICE records show that one Guatemalan man, a former DACA recipient, was diagnosed with mental illness by ICE mental personnel, and twice attempted suicide while in solitary confinement. On June 5, 2019, in a possible violation of the Keep Washington Working Act, Snohomish County transferred him to ICE and he was taken to the NWDC. On June 17, 2019, he was diagnosed by NWDC medical personnel with a serious mental illness, but he was placed in solitary confinement—although the record does note that this followed consultation with NWDC medical personnel—pending an investigation of disciplinary charges against him on June 27. On June 28, he was found lying on the floor of his cell, verbally unresponsive and partially covered in vomit, having apparently ingested crushed pills; when he was taken to the hospital, he expressed suicidal ideation but was returned to the NWDC and placed on suicide watch. On July 12, 2019, he again attempted suicide while in solidary at the NWDC, and was transferred to St. Joseph’s Hospital where he was held restrained at the arms and feet.

Some mentally ill people detained in solitary confinement experience this cycle as punctuated by violence. In one particularly disturbing case, ICE’s records document the traumatic spiral experienced by one 24 year old Mexican national who was the subject of 14 separate use of force incidents in a three-month period, each documented in Significant Incident Reports reviewed by UWCHR researchers:

Due to reportedly having put up resistance when taken into ICE custody, he was immediately placed in administrative segregation upon arrival at NWDC on June 6, 2019. On June 10, 2019, while in administrative segregation, he attempted an assault on a GEO officer.
On June 11, 2019, he assaulted GEO officers attempting to escort him to his disciplinary hearing for the previous assault. In the hearing, he was sentenced to 30 days in disciplinary segregation.
Later that same day, June 11, he attempted a third assault on GEO officers. The following day, on June 12, he assaulted an officer taking him to a meeting with his attorney.
On June 13, while in disciplinary segregation, he refused to return his dinner tray. GEO called in a Hostage Negotiating Team officer to attempt to secure his compliance, but this was not successful. At this point, the Acting Deputy Field Office Director for the Seattle Area of Responsibility authorized a calculated use of force, including the deployment of chemical agents (pepper spray) within his cell with the door closed. Following this, he became sufficiently compliant to allow officers to forcibly extract him from his cell and take him to the shower area for decontamination, although while there he again attempted to assault the officers, reportedly while screaming, “I am insane.”
On June 27, while in medical isolation “as a result of five previous assaults,” he attempted a sixth assault, leading to a spontaneous use of force against him.
On July 3, when officers attempted to transfer him from medical isolation to disciplinary segregation to serve the remainder of his 30-day sentence, he again attempted violence and the officers used force against him.
On July 5, while in disciplinary segregation, he attempted an assault against a GEO officer, and was pepper-sprayed.
On July 8, he attempted to assault officers escorting him back to his cell following a hearing in immigration court.
On July 27, while in medical isolation, officers observed him behaving aggressively over the course of three hours, punching walls and glass, and determined that he should be taken to St. Joseph’s Medical Center for evaluation. To transport him, they restrained him in wrist and leg irons and placed a hood over his head to prevent spitting.
Two days later, on July 29, he was again pepper sprayed for uncooperative behavior in medical isolation.
On August 1, he was being held in wrist restraints in medical isolation. The IHSC Medical Director concluded that he should be returned to St. Joseph’s Hospital for further testing. He resisted removal from his cell and was forcibly restrained and transported in restraints via ambulance. He was not admitted to the hospital.
On August 3, he was again noncompliant with staff directives while housed in medical isolation in restraints, resulting in the fourteenth use of force against him in less than three months’ time. Chemical agents were deployed inside his cell. Following the incident, he was again placed in “soft restraints.”

It is unclear whether further incidents continued, as the collection of Significant incident Reports provided to UWCHR cuts off at the end of August 2019. But the picture that emerges from this period of his detention is one of a person in crisis, subjected to increasingly restrictive conditions until, at the conclusion of these records, he is restrained at all times.

While it is not possible, from the records reviewed, to conclude specifically that placement in solitary confinement made these individuals’ mental health problems worse, the repeated suicide attempts and, in the last case above, unrelenting violence inflicted and received during detention, raise important questions about whether the adequacy of care for the mentally ill provided at the NWDC. (Significantly, it is not even clear from these records in this last case whether NWDC recognized him as mentally ill until an immigration judge ruled him to be mentally incompetent in July 2019.)

Solitary confinement for hunger strikers

ICE and GEO records also show that the NWDC has repeatedly assigned those protesting unfair treatment to solitary confinement. In at least six cases included in data released to UWCHR by ICE, the records indicated the reasons for a person’s placement in solitary was their participating in hunger strikes or other forms of Constitutionally-protected free speech activities, including four sentenced in March 2014 to between 16 and 25 days in disciplinary segregation for “inciting others in group demonstration” or “inciting others to conduct work stoppage and strike.” Advocates suggest this practice is in fact more common, with hunger strikers being placed in solitary for reasons that might appear unrelated to their protest, but in practice constitute retaliation for speaking out.^[40] This way of responding to protest suggests the retaliatory use of solitary confinement, a practice inconsistent with international human rights norms.

Other analysts have also found evidence for the punitive use of solitary confinement in nationwide ICE data, suggesting the problem is not limited to the NWDC. The 2019 ICIJ report reviewed more than 8400 placements of solitary confinement nationwide, including 182 cases of people locked in segregation for participating in hunger strikes^[41].

At the NWDC, Columbia Legal Services and the ACLU described one such incident in their March 2014 lawsuit on behalf of three hunger strikers placed in segregation, apparently for punitive reasons:

“Plaintiffs were placed in solitary confinement after corrections officers entered their living area and invited approximately 20 detainees to meet with an assistant warden to discuss their reasons for engaging in hunger strikes. Plaintiffs and other detainees who volunteered to attend the meeting were immediately placed in handcuffs and taken to individual isolation cells, where they were kept for 23 hours per day and were deprived of meaningful interactions with others. They were not told why they were placed in solitary confinement, nor how long they would have to live in isolation. …It appears that ICE’s placement of Plaintiffs and other hunger striking detainees in administrative segregation was in fact punishment and retaliation for engaging in constitutionally protected free speech activities.”^[42]

In another case, the ACLU filed suit against the NWDC in February 2018 for the placement of hunger striker Jesús Chávez in disciplinary segregation following a physical altercation in which he was “punched with a closed fist” by a guard, resulting in an injury to his eye.^[43] After the incident, GEO accused him of adulterating a bag of apples, presumably for fermentation into a drink, and sentenced him to 20 days in solitary confinement. But the process whereby these charges were adjudicated deviated dramatically from the standards spelled out in the PBNDS, which devotes considerable detail to a series of due process-like protections involving presentation of a written incident report noting the alleged infraction, the holding of a hearing in which the accused has the right to participate in their own defense, assisted by a representative if they have limited English proficiency.^[44] In Mr. Chávez’s case, according to the ACLU, the disciplinary hearing was held without Mr. Chávez having received written notification in Spanish of the charges against him, and without him having an opportunity to speak for himself or even be present to witness the proceedings.^[45], [46]

ICE’s internal documentation of the incident further conflicts with the legal documentation presented in court. The Significant Incident Report filed on February 9, 2018, describes the incident the previous day in which multiple people in C-3 pod expressed their intention to go on hunger strike and refused orders from officials to “bunk up,” progressing to a physical altercation in which one person was “inadvertently” “pok[ed] in the left eye,” in clear reference to Chávez’s injury. However, the ICE record says that he was subsequently evaluated in the clinic and “cleared of any injury,” while advocacy groups circulated photos and videos of Mr. Chavez that show an injury visible to his eye days later.

Document 5 – ICE Significant Incident Report, February 9, 2018

The Chávez case points to a still-deeper problem at the NWDC. A detailed review of all four separate logs of solitary confinement placements from 2013 to 2020, plus hundreds of pages of written documentation prepared and archived by GEO Group governing the reasons for all solitary placements from January 1, 2018 to March 31, 2020, there is no mention of Mr. Chávez ever having been placed in solitary. Had his case not been the subject of litigation in federal court, there would be no recognition that he had ever been in solitary.

We asked ICE’s attorneys why Mr. Chávez’s case was not included in the collection of records provided to us, since they insist these cover all solitary placements during this period. They indicated that they would not answer any further questions until several sets of unrelated documents we are seeking have been released to us, a process that is projected to last into 2021.

Hidden abuses

Accurately establishing the facts of the Chávez case would require a detailed revision of records that either do not exist, or are being withheld by ICE and its partners in the private prison industry. Unfortunately, we have reached the conclusion that at the local and federal level, records are being created and shared in a manner that obscures the facts about solitary confinement at the NWDC.

Unexplained gaps between GEO and ICE data

As noted above, UWCHR reviewed four separate datasets produced by ICE and GEO, each of which purported to cover all instances of solitary confinement at NWDC during the period under study; the details of each are explained in our data appendix. ICE’s 2013 directive clearly requires ERO Field Offices to document solitary placements into ICE’s “Segregation Review Management System” (SRMS) in three cases: when a detained person spends more than 14 consecutive days in solitary; when they spend a total of 14 days in any 21 day period in solitary; or when they are placed in solitary despite having a special vulnerability.^[47]

Yet when GEO’s data is compared to ICE’s, unexplained gaps emerge. For example, the GEO logs show many more placements in solitary than were registered in the SRMS. Many of the unreported placements are short-term (i.e. under the 14 days at which reporting becomes mandatory in cases of those without known vulnerabilities), but even some longer placements appear to have gone unregistered, for unexplained reasons.^[48]

From the records alone, it is unclear whether GEO failed to share these records with ICE, or whether the ICE Field Office failed to enter them into the SRMS database. But this appears consistent with a broader pattern noted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General in its September 2017 on the use of solitary confinement for mentally ill people. After a review of practices at seven facilities, including the NWDC, the inspectors concluded, “The ICE field offices we reviewed did not record and promptly report all instances of segregation to ICE headquarters, nor did their system properly reflect all required reviews of ongoing segregation cases per ICE guidance.”^[49] Despite ICE’s commitment to remedy these problems when the report was published, the more recent data reviewed by UWCHR suggests that they persist.

Unexplained gaps in public reporting by ICE

This obfuscation is not confined to the local level. In attempting to access records that would permit a deeper understanding of the circumstances behind solitary placements at the NWDC, UWCHR researchers were repeatedly stymied by contradictory responses from ICE. For example, despite the agency’s own requirements that information be compiled in the SRMS, an electronic database, agency attorneys argued that providing information on all solitary placements—not just ones longer than 14 days—would require the agency to manually search hardcopy A-files of individual detainees, a process that was impossible because the relevant Federal Records Centers where hardcopy files were stored were closed until further notice due to COVID-19.^[50]

ICE has told Congress that “SRMS provides a centralized historical record of all segregation cases” (emphasis added).^[51] Yet in conversations with UWCHR’s attorneys, ICE’s counsel indicated the opposite was true, insisting that SRMS only contains records of placements over 14 days or in cases of known special vulnerabilities.

Whichever the case may be, ICE appears to respond to requests for public information about segregation by only providing information about placements logged in SRMS, while providing data reflecting many more placements to internal investigators. For example, a June 24-26, 2014 DHS inspection report for NWDC states, “Documentation reflects there were 776 assignments to segregation in the past year,”^[52] whereas placements reported to ICE via SRMS amount to only 106 total segregation placements during the same period. The numbers provided to UWCHR are consistent with those reported to investigators from POGO and the ICIJ—yet the difference between these numbers and those given to DHS inspectors is eightfold. As a result, almost 86% of the placements in solitary confinement at the NWDC were not reflected in information given to the public until now.^[53]

As a result of these discrepancies, it is important to be clear: no one really knows how many people are held, for how long, in solitary confinement in the NWDC or other ICE detention facilities.

Conclusion

Multiple elected officials have written letters, and then further follow-up letters, demanding information about the use of solitary confinement.^[54] Many studies^[55] have been conducted with the limited data provided publicly by ICE. New federal legislation has been proposed to effectively ban most instances of solitary confinement in immigration detention and mandate increased transparency about those placements deemed necessary.^[56] Yet these efforts have yet to produce any appreciable change in the extraordinarily limited access to information we have about the use of solitary confinement for civil detainees in the United States today; nor have they produced any accountability in cases where existing rules have been violated, despite a growing number of deaths in detention.

Although questions remain, given the agency’s record of flouting rules, concealing information, and declining to address even failures as stark as deaths in detention, we cannot conclude that further investigations are necessary. Rather, what is needed is decisive action to protect people from these institutions.

Next section: COVID-19 & Health Standards →

Notes

^[1] The Northwest Detention Center is also sometimes referred to as the Northwest ICE Processing Center or Tacoma ICE Processing Center.

^[2] Dedicated ICE facilities are facilities that house only ICE detainees. They include both privately and publicly owned and run detention centers.

^[3] ICE lacks the authority to detain people pursuant to criminal charges, so all of the migrants detained at the NWDC are held in civil (also known as administrative) detention. Some may have previously served criminal sentences in other facilities.

^[4] UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD), Country report visit to the United States of America, A/HRC/36/37/Add.2, ¶ 21.

^[5] Rule 43, paragraph 1: The United Nations Standards of rules for the treatment of prisoners (“Nelson Mandela Rules”). Rule 43, paragraphs 1-2.

^[6] Directive 11065.1, Review of the Use of Segregation for ICE Detainees, September 2013.

^[7] US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Performance-Based National Detention Standards 2011 (PBNDS 2011), Revised 2016, p. 172.

^[8] PBNDS 2011, p. 176.

^[9] See, for example, Carmen Molina Acosta, “Psychological Torture: ICE Responds to COVID-19 with Solitary Confinement,” The Intercept, August 24, 2020. ICE’s ERO COVID-19 Pandemic Response Requirements (Version 5.0, October 27, 2020) addresses this critique by stating, “Due to limited housing units within many correctional facilities, individuals may be medically isolated in spaces used for administrative or disciplinary segregation, however medical isolation shall be operationally distinct from administrative or disciplinary segregation to provide access to programs and services to the fullest extent possible as clinically permitted.”

^[10] See, for example, Hannah Rappleye, Andrew W. Lehren, Spencer Woodman, Vanessa Swales and Maryam Saleh, “Thousands of Immigrants Suffer in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Detention Centers,” NBC News, May 20, 2019

^[11] Gov. Jay Inslee wrote to DHS on October 5, 2018, expressing concerns about health and safety conditions at the NWDC; he never received a response, and then wrote again on November 28, 2018, demanding an independent investigation following the death of Mergansana Amar in solitary confinement. This demand, too, appears to have gone unanswered. Similarly, Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a June 21, 2019 letter posing questions to ICE about the use of solitary confinement, but received no response, prompting her to send a November 1, 2019 follow-up letter “demanding answers.” On October 23, 2019, Sen. Maria Cantwell and Rep. Adam Smith sent a letter to the DHS Office of the Inspector General demanded an investigation into the use of solitary confinement at the NWDC. No response has been made public.

^[12] Ellen Gallagher, “The Other Problem with ICE Detention: Solitary Confinement,” The Washington Post, August 28, 2019

^[13] Project on Government Oversight, “ISOLATED: ICE Confines Some Detainees with Mental Illness in Solitary for Months”, August 14, 2019

^[14] Spencer Woodman and Ben Hallman, “Solitary Confinement in US Immigration Facilities, Explained”, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, May 21, 2019.

^[15] Dedicated facilities are centers which exclusively house ICE detainees. As noted by the authors of the POGO report, comparisons between detention facilities based on ICE SRMS records may be skewed by missing and incomplete data, or differences in reporting practices between facilities. However, this data remains the only publicly available source for comparative analysis of the use of solitary confinement in immigration detention.

^[16] Longer average solitary stays at NWDC during this period are not readily explained by an over-representation of “detainee-requested” or “protective custody” segregation placements, which tend to be longer than other categories of placements. In both of these categories, segregation placements at NWDC were about twice as long on average than for similar placements at other facilities nationwide. Excluding segregation stays under 14 days also did not affect NWDC’s high rank for average stay length. For more on this, see the data appendix to this report.

^[17] 382 of the NWDC’s 453 reported solitary placements from September 2013 to March 2020 lasted longer than 15 days. 461 placements were reported in total for this time period, but 8 placements were incomplete at the time of production of the dataset released to UWCHR. These placements have been excluded from analysis of segregation stay length. See the data appendix regarding the second installment of ICE SRMS data for NWDC for more information.

^[18] ICE ERO Custody Management Division dataset dated November 6, 2017 released via FOIA. Published by National Immigrant Justice Center, ICE Detention Facilities as of November 2017.

^[19] Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Budget Overview Fiscal Year 2020 Congressional Justification, p. 4.

^[20] For more, see data appendix.

^[21] Per ICE rules, stays in solitary confinement are only required to be reported in the SRMS when a person spends more than 14 consecutive days in solitary; when they spend a total of 14 days in any 21 day period in solitary; or when they are placed in solitary despite having a special vulnerability. (See U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 11065.1: Review of the Use of Segregation for ICE Detainees, September 4, 2013.)

^[22] See the data appendix comparing the RHU, SMU, SRMS 1, and SRMS 2 datasets for more detail.

^[23] Stay lengths here are computed exclusive of the first placement day; i.e. placements of less than 24 hours are counted as 0 days. The minimum placement lengths for the SMU and RHU datasets are 0 days; for the SRMS 1 and SRMS 2 datasets, minimum placement length is 1 day. For more detail, see the data appendix comparing the RHU, SMU, SRMS 1, and SRMS 2 datasets.

^[24] Unlike the other datasets, the “GEOtrack” or “SMU” dataset records housing assignments within the segregation management unit; if an individual is moved from one cell to another while remaining in solitary confinement, that would generate a new record. We would therefore expect this dataset to report more, shorter placements compared to other internal GEO records. Counts of long stays could be either under- or over-represented: for example, a 28-day total stay with one housing move could be split into 2 14-day housing assignments, or into one 27-day assignment and one 1-day assignment. Because the dataset includes no unredacted individual identifiers, it is impossible to track individual placements across housing assignments. For more, see the data appendices to this report.

^[25] See, for example, Keramet Reiter et al., “Psychological Distress in Solitary Confinement: Symptoms, Severity, and Prevalence in the United States, 2017–2018,” American Journal of Public Health, January 2020

^[26] UN General Assembly resolution 70/175, annex, The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules), adopted on 17 December 2015. Emphasis added.

^[27] For example, the PBNDS mandates that any time an individual with known vulnerabilities, including serious mental illness is detained, ICE personnel must clear this with the Field Office Director, and notify ICE headquarters, in order to ensure accommodations are sufficient to their needs. See PBNDS 2011, p. 70-71.

^[28] The directive defines “special vulnerabilities” as follows: “Detainees with special vulnerabilities include those who are known to be suffering from mental illness or serious medical illness; who have a disability or are elderly, pregnant, or nursing; who would be susceptible to harm in general population due in part to their sexual orientation or gender identity; or who have been victims -in or out of ICE custody-of sexual assault, torture, trafficking, or abuse.” ICE Directive 11065.1, Review of the Use of Segregation for ICE Detainees, September 2013, p. 2.

^[29] PBNDS 2011, p. 172.

^[30] Spencer Woodman and Ben Hallman, “Solitary Confinement in US Immigration Facilities, Explained”, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, May 21, 2019.

^[31] The data examined included all reported solitary placements from January 1, 2016 to to May 4, 2018.

^[32] Project on Government Oversight, “ISOLATED: ICE Confines Some Detainees with Mental Illness in Solitary for Months”, August 14, 2019.

^[33] For details on the figures cited in this section, see the data appendix for the second installment of ICE SRMS data for NWDC,

^[34] Among the total 156 people flagged with either “mental illness” or “serious mental illness” assigned to solitary confinement for any reason, the longest placement was 299 days; the average placement length was 48 days, and the median was 30 days.

^[35] The Nelson Mandela Rules for the treatment of prisoners stipulate, in Rule 43, paragraph 1: “In no circumstances may restrictions or disciplinary sanctions amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The following practices, in particular, shall be prohibited: (a) Indefinite solitary confinement; (b) Prolonged solitary confinement. Prolonged solitary confinement is defined in rule 44 as ”solitary confinement for a time period in excess of 15 consecutive days.”

^[36] U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Detention Oversight Compliance Inspection. Enforcement and Removal Operations, Seattle Field Office, Northwest Detention Center. June 24-26, 2014, p. 23

^[37] CRCL Complaint Log for NWDC, case 84; under FOIA, UWCHR researchers have requested further information about this case and are currently awaiting response.

^[38] Letter from Gov. Jay Inslee to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Acting Inspector General John V. Kelley, November 28, 2018.

^[39] Ellen Gallagher, Office of Special Counsel Disclosure of Information Statement, September 20, 2014; available via DocumentCloud, contributed by Spencer Woodman, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

^[40] See, for example, the case of Jesús Chávez Flores, detailed below.

^[41] Spencer Woodman, Karrie Kehoe, Maryam Saleh, and Hannah Rappleye, “Solitary Voices: Thousands of Immigrants Suffer In US Solitary Confinement”, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, May 21, 2019.

^[42] ACLU of Washington, “CLS and ACLU Protect Detainees’ Free Speech Rights at the Northwest Detention Center”, May 12, 2014.

^[43] ACLU of Washington, Jesús Chávez Flores v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, October 10, 2018.

^[44] See PBNDS 2011, section “3.1 Disciplinary System”. For example, “At each step of the disciplinary and appeal process, the detainee shall be advised in writing of his/her rights in a language he/she understands, and translation or interpretation services shall be provided as needed.” (p. 214) and “Detainees before the IDP shall be afforded a staff representative, upon request, or automatically if the detainee is illiterate, has limited English language skills or otherwise needs special assistance.” (p. 215)

^[45] ACLU of Washington, Jesús Chávez Flores v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, October 10, 2018.

^[46] This lack of compliance with ICE’s “due process” rules governing disciplinary segregation does not appear to be unique: a December 2017 report by the DHS Office of the Inspector General investigating conditions in several other facilities found that “Staff did not always tell detainees why they were being segregated, nor did they always communicate detainees’ rights in writing or provide appeal forms for those put in punitive lock-down or placed in segregation. In multiple instances, detainees were disciplined, including being segregated or locked down in their cells, without adequate documentation in the detainee’s file to justify the disciplinary action. For example, one detainee reported being locked down for multiple days for sharing coffee with another detainee.” (Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, Concerns about ICE Detainee Treatment and Care at Detention Facilities, OIG-18-32, December 11, 2017)

^[47] U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 11065.1: Review of the Use of Segregation for ICE Detainees, September 4, 2013.

^[48] See the data appendix comparing the RHU, SMU, SRMS 1, and SRMS 2 datasets for more detail.

^[49] Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, ICE Field Offices Need to Improve Compliance with Oversight Requirements for Segregation of Detainees with Mental Health Conditions, OIG-17-119, September 29, 2017.

^[50] April 15, 2020 email from Michelle Lambert (Assistant United States Attorney, Western District of Washington) to Jordan Clark, Associate at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.

^[51] Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Budget Overview Fiscal Year 2017 Congressional Justification, p. 54.

^[52] U.S. DHS ICE, Office of Detention Oversight Compliance Inspection. Enforcement and Removal Operations, Seattle Field Office, Northwest Detention Center. June 24-26, 2014, p. 27.

^[53] Similar reports for other ICE detention facilities the periods covered by solitary data released to ICIJ, POGO, and UWCHR are not readily available due to apparent technical problems with the ICE Office of Detention Oversight website. For more, see the data appendix analyzing national data sources on solitary confinement in immigration detention.

^[54] Gov. Jay Inslee wrote to DHS on October 5, 2018, expressing concerns about health and safety conditions at the NWDC; he never received a response, and then wrote again on November 28, 2018, Governor Jay Inslee demanding an independent investigation following the death of Mergansana Amar in solitary confinement. This demand, too, appears to have gone unanswered, as no such investigation has occurred to date. Similarly, Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a June 21, 2019 letter posing questions to ICE about the use of solitary confinement, but received no response, prompting her to send a November 1, 2019 follow-up letter “demanding answers.” On October 23, 2019, Sen. Maria Cantwell and Rep. Adam Smith sent a letter to the DHS Office of the Inspector General demanded an investigation into the use of solitary confinement at the NWDC. No response has been made public.

^[55] For example, see Spencer Woodman, “U.S. isolates detained immigrants from majority-black countries at high rate, study finds,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, April 21, 2020.

^[56] Spencer Woodman, “Legislation Would Force ICE to Sharply Curtail Solitary Confinement”, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, November 14, 2019.

Brave Voices from Inside NWDC

“This is the grounds right now, we have to stand together. It doesn't matter we are in here and you guys outside.” Gayano, currently detained inside the NWDC, draws links between what’s going on in the immigration system and the call for #JusticeforGeorgeFloyd and others impacted by police violence and systemic racism. Watch and share! #BlackLivesMatter #DefundPolice #AbolishICE #FreeThemAll

Posted by La Resistencia on Monday, June 1, 2020

Brave Voices from Inside NWDC

Hear from Daniel (video 1 of 2), currently detained inside the NWDC, as he draws links between what’s going on in the immigration system and the call for #JusticeforGeorgeFloyd and others impacted by police violence and systemic racism. Watch and share! #BlackLivesMatter #DefundPolice #AbolishICE #FreeThemAll

Posted by La Resistencia on Monday, June 1, 2020

Brave Voices from Inside NWDC

Hear from Daniel (video 2 of 2), currently detained inside the NWDC, as he draws links between what’s going on in the immigration system and the call for #JusticeforGeorgeFloyd and others impacted by police violence and systemic racism. Watch and share! #BlackLivesMatter #DefundPolice #AbolishICE #FreeThemAll

Posted by La Resistencia on Monday, June 1, 2020

A group of 20 artists from across the US released a print-at-home coloring book to raise funds for undocumented communities impacted by COVID-19. In exchange for a free download, the artists are asking folks to make a donation to one of several funds listed on our website, which includes Resistencia! 

You can download the entire book (more than 50 pages!) or just individual artworks that speak to you. Share your creations with the hashtags #freethemallcoloringbook #freethemall #liberenatodos #liberenatodx.

Descarge #FreeThemAll Coloring Book

Un grupo de 20 artistas a través de los E.U. publicaron un libro para colorear que puede imprimir en su casa y los fundos reclutados van a ser dados a  comunidades indocumentados que han sido impactadas por el COVID-19. ¡A cambio de la gratis descarga, los artistas están pidiendo a la gente que hagan una donación las campañas en nuestro sitio de red, que incluye Resistencia! 

Puede usted descargar el libro completo ( ¡mas de 50 paginas!) o nomas paginas individualmente. Comparten sus creaciones con las etiquetas #freethemallcoloringbook #freethemall #liberenatodos #liberenatodx

An SOS from inside the NWDC calling out #FreeThemAll
Amplify the message of those on hunger strike, take action now!

Just a few hours ago at the Northwest Detention Center a new hunger strike launched, with hunger strikers spelling out the distress signal, SOS, in the yard of the detention center, reflecting the emergency they are facing and demanding ICE release them from detention immediately.
 
Today’s hunger strike marks the third to occur at the facility in just three weeks, following over 60 immigrant women who were on strike last week and prior to that, 300 people were on strike at the NWDC the first week of April. A rise in hunger strikes at the Northwest Detention Center and in detention centers across the country underscores the panic and desperation people feel as concerns over COVID-19 infection intensify.

In the last three weeks there have been 16 confirmed hunger strikes nationwide as people in immigration detention are protesting their incarceration during a global pandemic

People on hunger strike at the Northwest Detention Center are demanding:

• To be released from detention immediately. The SOS distress signal is our desperate call for help from every elected official to respond and do whatever they can to get us out now. Our lives are in imminent danger and we do not want to die in detention. This is an emergency. People navigating their immigration cases should be able to do so with their families and in community rather than behind bars.
• We call on ICE to stop lying. ICE is actively hiding information from the public on the dire situation in immigration detention and the people inside who are bravely speaking out against it with hunger strikes. There have been three hunger strikes at NWDC alone in the past three weeks, and we will continue to go on hunger strike until everyone is released from NWDC and safe from being exposed to COVID-19.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

1. Email local ICE Field Office Director Nathalie Asher using the provided template.
2. Email and call Governor Inslee using the provided template.
3. Share on social media: Write the hunger striker demands on a piece of paper, along with one or all of these hashtags: #FreeThemAll #ShutDownNWDC #DerrumbandoFronteras #BreakingDownBorders Take a selfie with the demands and post on social media using the hashtags and tagging @jayinslee @laresistencianw
4. Listen to & share the testimony from those detained at NWDC during the global coronavirus outbreak about conditions inside.
    
5. Learn more about ICE’s shameful record of medical negligence, poor sanitation, and demonstrated inability to respond to past infectious disease outbreaks in this Detention Watch Network report, Courting Catastrophe: How ICE is Gambling with Immigrant Lives Amid a Global Pandemic.

We sent this public letter to Nathalie Asher, the director of Seattle’s ICE Field Office in response to a press release she released denying that hunger strikes are happening inside the NWDC. Please read and share!

April 8, 2020

NATHALIE ASHER
FIELD OFFICE DIRECTOR,
SEATTLE FIELD OFFICE OF UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE)

Dear Ms. Asher,

In response to the rolling hunger strikes by people in your custody in the immigrant detention center in Tacoma, Washington, you released a press release, dated April 5, 2020, and titled, “Propaganda, false hunger strike claims at Northwest ICE Processing Center incites unnecessary fear throughout the community.” You claimed, “There is no hunger strike occurring at the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC), “ a prison for people facing deportation also known as the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC), operated by the GEO Group, a for-profit prison company. We are in the midst of a global pandemic putting people in your custody at risk for death. The people detained at NWDC are using the only tool at their disposal– hungering– to draw attention to the risk they face, and the impossibility of keeping themselves safe while caged in close proximity to each other. 

Instead of responding to their demands, you are using your energy to deny reality. Detention centers are “tinderboxes” for uncontrollable COVID-19 infections according to your own Department of Homeland Security’s medical experts. People detained know this and are acting accordingly to safeguard their lives. With great sacrifice for their own personal welfare, over one hundred and forty detained people engaged in these hunger strikes to alert everyone to the mortal danger the detention center poses. They have made their demands clear: 1) humanitarian visas for those detained; 2) immediate release from detention; and 3) an end to deportations and removal proceedings until the end of the pandemic. They know they are in a fight for their lives. 

Why would you choose to waste time denying reality instead of figuring out ways to meet these demands? You already released at least four of our community members in detention who filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) for their release alongside others with the help of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP) and the ACLU. So why won’t you release everyone in the facility in this moment of mortal danger, given that the power to do so rests entirely with you and can be done immediately? Why go out of your way to raid, detain, and deport people from our region to this day when they could be released to get the shelter and care needed to survive this unprecedented pandemic? 

On April 7th, community members inside the facility reported that ICE and GEO Group employees have decided to begin using medical masks needed desperately by frontline workers in hospitals. We know that masks only offer value for slowing the communication of this virus when they are used in conjunction with social distancing, which remains impossible for the people under your charge. Masks alone are little more than propaganda (to use your words) meant to distract from fundamentally irresponsible potentially homicidal choices. The outfitting of ICE and GEO employees with masks cannot hide the absolutely unnecessary practice of caging people to line the pockets of GEO Group.

When the world is almost a stand-still, when many nations across the globe have liberated migrants, immigrants, and people incarcerated from cages, when still other countries have chosen to immediately regularize all people without status so they can safely access medical care and possess the means necessary for social distancing, and when the WHO and the UNHCR advise that the immediate release of migrants from confinement is necessary both to comply with basic human rights and to stop the devastating spread of this disease across the planet, why, in this moment of collective danger, would you decide your resources and time are best spent terrorizing migrants and immigrant communities?

The lives of those in your custody are as precious to them as your life is to you. When the history of this pandemic is written, President Trump will be rightly condemned for failures in leadership that led directly to the death of hundreds of thousands. But he will not have acted alone. You are at a crossroads – will you be one of the many officials who acted as an agent of Trump, condemning those in your custody to death, or will you act to release them now?

Ms. Asher, it’s time to stop these practices, including wasting time sending out disinformation, and release all detained people at NWDC.

Sincerely,

La Resistencia

How are we going to get out of here? Contagious or what?

Hear from the people detained inside about the true condition of NWDC during covid19: “How are we going to get out of here? Contagious or what?”

Posted by La Resistencia on Wednesday, April 8, 2020

They give us a single bar of soap with which we can shower, but everyone touches it

Hear from the people detained inside about the true condition of NWDC during covid19: “In a single narrow living space with 3 baths, 3 showers above, three below. They are giving us soap. They give us a single bar of soap with which we can shower, but everyone touches it.

Posted by La Resistencia on Wednesday, April 8, 2020

we’re very close to each other. We are head to head

Hear from the people detained inside about the true condition of NWDC during covid19: “Yes, please, we have out children and we also want to have our (legal) cases but we also want to be heard so we don’t catch the virus. . . there are 12 beds in one place. For example. From wall to wall there are 12 beds . . . so we’re very close to each other. We are head to head.”

Posted by La Resistencia on Wednesday, April 8, 2020

If we were on hunger strike, they were going to take away our commissary

Hear from the people detained inside about the true condition of NWDC during covid19: “There are four people in the hole. We are communicating with each other from the hole which is here on the other side of the room. And, we are worried because probably they told us that if we were on hunger stroke, they were going to take away our commissary.”

Posted by La Resistencia on Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Many on hunger strike have diabetes

Hear from the people detained inside about the true condition of NWDC during covid19: “In fact, I also wanted to tell you that the people who are on strike, many of them have diabetes and use insulin and they are still on strike. I have anemia also and low blood pressure and I’m on strike.”

Posted by La Resistencia on Wednesday, April 8, 2020

"64 people have stopped eating"

Hear from the people detained inside about the true condition of NWDC during covid19: “What happened is that they took four of us because we were the one who talked to a GEO”person asking that they give us more soap and that they needed to transfer us to another cell. To separate us, in half, to reduce the risk of catching the virus. The four of use who spoke with him are now in the hole. But 64 people have stopped eating.”

Posted by La Resistencia on Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Testimony from those detained in NWDC during global coronavirus outbreak

Hear from more people inside NWDC! Newly released collection of testimony from those being detained inside the Northwest Detention Center, Tacoma, WA during the global Coronavirus outbreak. “So I made a complaint. I told them — why are we practicing social distancing in the courtroom by standing six feet apart and only allowing six people inside, but the rest of the people who are waiting for their court hearing in the morning are all being held in one single room with more than 20 people? So I told them — what you are doing is hiding the truth.” #ShutDownNWDC #FreeThemAll

Posted by La Resistencia on Tuesday, April 14, 2020

BRAVE VOICES FROM INSIDE NWDC – Testimony from May 4, 2020

BRAVE VOICES FROM INSIDE NWDC – Testimony from May 4, 2020. “… he said his lungs hurt and he began to spit out blood…” #FreeThemAll #ShutdownNWDC #DerrumbandoFronteras #BreakingDownBorders

Posted by La Resistencia on Tuesday, May 5, 2020

BREAKING NEWS: STRIKE AT NWDC

BREAKING NEWS: WORK STRIKE AT NWDC “Slavery ended a long time ago, but slavery is alive and well in here.” #FreeThemAll #ShutdownNWDC #DerrumbandoFronteras #BreakingDownBorders

Posted by La Resistencia on Saturday, May 9, 2020

BRAVE VOICES FROM INSIDE NWDC – Testimony from April 21, 2020

BRAVE VOICES FROM INSIDE NWDC – Testimony from April 21, 2020. “… they want to see us dying, before the treat us properly.” #FreeThemAll #ShutdownNWDC #DerrumbandoFronteras #BreakingDownBorders

Posted by La Resistencia on Wednesday, April 29, 2020

BRAVE VOICES FROM INSIDE NWDC | 4.17.2020

BRAVE VOICES FROM INSIDE NWDC – Testimony from last Friday, April, 17, 2020 #FreeThemAll #ShutdownNWDC #DerrumbandoFronteras #BreakingDownBorders

Posted by La Resistencia on Tuesday, April 21, 2020

We participated in a national #FreeThemAll week of action to put pressure on people like Jay Inslee to release people from NWDC. In case you missed it, links to those actions are below! It still helps to do any of those calls to actions. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to join in on new calls to action! 

3/30, Day 1- Demand ICE #FreeThemAll: tinyurl.com/FreeThemAllDay1
3/31, Day 2 – Let Our People Go/Trans Day of Visibility: tinyurl.com/FreeThemAllDay2
4/1, Day 3 – #DefundHate: Reject COVID-19 ICE and CBP Funding: tinyurl.com/FreeThemAllDay3
4/2, Day 4 – La policia, la migra, la misma porqueria: tinyurl.com/FreeThemAllDay4
4/3, Day 5 – Care not Cages: Public Health Department Accountability Day: tinyurl.com/FreeThemAllDay5
4/4, Day 6 – #FreeThemAll Solidarity Day Webinar: Watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/LaResistenciaNW/videos/219241772660632/

Seattle based music duo Sendai Era collaborated with Las Cafeteras, a Chicanx band from East Los Angeles, California to produce a new song and video called My Home.

Enrico from Sendai Era said, “We wrote the song trying to define what home was for us.” The song consists of the languages English, Spanish, Tagalog and Kanienke’ha (Mohawk), and the footage is from the solidarity day at NWDC on February 1, 2020.

One Hearing Down, More to Come!

Our legislators have an opportunity to ban private prisons in Washington State by passing HB2576 and SB6442 this legislative session! The first hearing of SB6442 happened in the Senate Human Services Committee on this last Wednesday, Jan 28th, and the House Public Safety Committee will hear the bill on Monday, Feb. 3 at 1:30.  Since the bills need to get out of committee by February 7th, our legislators need to act swiftly in order to prevent the spread of private prisons in our state and to stop the renewal of contracts for private prisons (eg NWDC) that are already operating here.

Two actions you can take to support the passage of this bill: 1.   BEFORE Monday, 2/3 at 1:00pm – Call, Email and Tweet House Public Safety Committee Members: Email House Public Safety Committee Members by 2/3 at 1pm (scroll down for form emails, contact info, and talking points!) Tweet House Public Safety Committee Members by clicking this link (or copy and paste into your Twitter feed: Representative, can we count on you to make WA state the next state to #BanPrivatePrisons? Pass #HB2576! @RogerGoodman45 @laurendavisWA @tinaorwall @pettigrew_e) Spread the news! Take it one step further by telling your friends and family about it and inviting them to take action! Forward  this email, share info on social media, text your buddies and coworkers!  2.   On Monday, 2/3 at 1:30pm – Attend House Public Safety Hearing for HB2576 Location: John L. O’Brien Building Hearing Room D at the state capital in Olympia. Come early so you can get a seat! These hearings are short so there may not be time for additional testimonies, but your presence and signing on in favor of the bill is incredibly helpful and shows how much support there is for the bill.  Sign in favor of the bill, which is now done electronically in all committees. To do this, you may: Go to one of the Committee Sign-In kiosks located in the main hallway of the Cherberg Building and the O’Brien Building, each Senate and House hearing room, or the first floor of the Legislative Building and the Pritchard Building; or Access the Committee Sign-In Program from a web-enabled device (smartphone, laptop or tablet), only while on campus and connected to the Legislature’s WSLPublic wireless Internet network For transportation: We’re trying a carpool app! Fill this out if you can offer a ride or if you need a ride.There is also parking nearby, but no guarantees as to whether it will be available. Public transit in Olympia is now free and there are buses that go directly to the capital.

Background Information for Contacting your Legislators Make sure you call and individually email each House Public Safety Committee member before the hearing, asking for their support of the bill, using our form email below. Utilize our scripts below and be sure to emphasize this effort is about ending ALL forms of private prisons (including administrative detention) in Washington.

Contact Info: House Public Safety Committee

Roger Goodman, Committee Chair 360-786-7878 Roger.Goodman@leg.wa.gov Lauren Davis, Vice Chair (360) 786-7910 Lauren.Davis@leg.wa.gov Sherry Appleton, 2nd Vice Chair (360) 786-7934 Sherry.Appleton@leg.wa.gov John Lovick  (360) 786-7804 John.Lovick@leg.wa.gov Tina Orwall (360) 786-7834 Tina.Orwall@leg.wa.gov Mike Pellicciotti (360) 786-7898 Mike.Pellicciotti@leg.wa.gov Eric Pettigrew (360) 786-7838  Eric.Pettigrew@leg.wa.gov Brad Klippert, Ranking Minority Member  (360) 786-7882 Brad.Klippert@leg.wa.gov Robert Sutherland, Assistant Ranking Minority Member (360) 786-7967 Robert.Sutherland@leg.wa.gov Jenny Graham  (360) 786-7962  Jenny.Graham@leg.wa.gov Dan Griffey  (360) 786-7966 Dan.Griffey@leg.wa.gov

Form Letters / Scripts:For Organizational Reps: Calling Script for House Committee Members* *If you are calling as an individual, your script is below this one!*Hi, is Representative (name) available? My name is (your name), and I’m a representative from (your organization), which is part of a coalition of over 190 organizations that supports a private prison ban in Washington State. As a representative of (your organization), I’m calling to let your office know that we support HB2576, and to ask for Representative (rep name) to support the passage of the bill. Can we count on you to support the bill and help it get out of committee?  [*add this if it applies to you and you can travel to Olympia when there is a hearing*]  Our organization will be attending the hearing on Monday and look forward to signing in favor of the bill at the hearing. Thank you! For Organizational Reps: Form Email for House Public Safety Committee Members* *If you are emailing as an individual, your script is below this one!* Dear Representative (insert name here), My name is (your name), and I’m a representative from (your organization), which is a part of a coalition of over 190 organizations that supports a private prison ban in Washington State. As a representative of (your organization), I’m writing to let you know that we support HB2576, and to ask for your support of the bill. Can we count on you to support the bill and help it to get out of committee? We believe that private prisons have no place in our state, and that this is a critical opportunity to act swiftly and prevent this inhumane industry from profiting off of human suffering in Washington State. [*add this if it applies to you and you can travel to Olympia for the hearing*]  Our organization will attend the hearing on Feb. 3 and look forward to signing in favor of the bill at the hearing. Thank you for your support in making Washington State a more just place. Sincerely, (your name) (your organization/title) For Individuals: Calling Script for House Committee Members Hi, is Representative (name) available? My name is (your name), and I am a (eg teacher, concerned WA resident, mother) who supports a private prison ban in Washington State. I’m calling to let your office know that I support HB2576, and to ask for Representative (rep name) to support the passage of the bill. Can I count on you to support the bill and help it get out of committee? [*add this if it applies to you and you can travel to Olympia when there is a hearing*]  I will be attending the hearing on Monday and look forward to signing in favor of the bill at the hearing. Thank you! For Individuals: Form Email for House Public Safety Committee Members Dear Representative (insert name here), My name is (your name), and I am a (eg teacher, concerned WA resident, mother) who supports a private prison ban in Washington State. I’m writing to let you know that I support HB2576, and to ask for your support of the bill. Can we count on you to support the bill and help it to get out of committee? I believe that private prisons have no place in our state, and that this is a critical opportunity to act swiftly and prevent this inhumane industry from profiting off of human suffering in Washington State. [*add this if it applies to you and you can travel to Olympia for the hearing*]  I will attend the hearing on Feb. 3 and look forward to signing in favor of the bill at the hearing. Thank you for your support in making Washington State a more just place. Sincerely, (your name)