Corrections abuse
Corrections abuse is the abuse, neglect, or excessive force directed at incarcerated persons by corrections officers or under conditions corrections agencies control. Concrete forms include physical assault, sexual abuse, prolonged solitary confinement in violation of standards, denial of medical care, and conditions of confinement that themselves constitute punishment beyond the sentence. The publication tracks documented incidents and patterns.
2026 Events (55)
Lawsuit alleged Rikers Island staff shackled a pregnant detainee during medical and court transport for months
A federal lawsuit filed August 27, 2026 in Brooklyn alleges the New York City Department of Correction routinely shackled a pregnant woman in full-body restraints — including leg shackles and waist chains — every time she was transported for medical appointments, psychiatric exams, and court appearances during roughly two months of her 2023-2024 detention at Rikers Island. The suit alleges DOC continued using handcuffs for a further month after stopping full-body restraints, and separately kept her in a mental health observation unit — because the jail's specialized unit for pregnant detainees was closed — where she was exposed to pepper spray directed at other detainees. New York state law and DOC policy bar restraining pregnant detainees absent extraordinary, written-justified circumstances, and the city has twice previously settled nearly identical shackling suits for close to $1 million each.
CoreCivic staff pepper-sprayed and dispersed protesting detainees at Natchez ICE facility after halting hot food and water, detainee said
On Saturday evening, August 22, 2026, an estimated 80-100 detainees held in two housing pods at CoreCivic's Adams County Correctional Center, an ICE detention facility in Natchez, Mississippi, protested outside the cafeteria after the facility halted hot meals and hot water and served a lunch of two flour tortillas and sliced bologna. CoreCivic's special response team, in riot gear, dispersed the protest soon after; detainee Melvin Funez said the team sprayed some detainees and threw others to the ground before locking the dormitory doors. The facility, which CoreCivic operates under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was holding roughly 2,500 people in a space designed for 2,300.
Oregon Journalism Project revealed sworn staff statements alleging Oregon Youth Authority covered up physician abuse of youths
Thirteen former Oregon Youth Authority staff filed sworn statements in federal litigation alleging agency leaders knew for years that a MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility physician was sexually abusing incarcerated youths and failed to investigate, discipline, or remove him, Oregon Journalism Project (via Lookout Eugene-Springfield) reported August 19, 2026. Dr. Edward Gary Edwards, the facility's longtime chief medical officer, is accused of abusing youths in his care from approximately 2000 to 2017. One official who led the agency for part of that period, Fariborz Pakseresht, was appointed interim director of the Oregon Health Authority by Gov. Tina Kotek last month despite being a named defendant in the litigation.
Michigan corrections officer altered Native American prisoner's ID with racist caricature, posted it publicly for humiliation, lawsuit alleges
A corrections officer at Newberry Correctional Facility in Michigan's Upper Peninsula digitally altered a Native American prisoner's ID to depict him wearing a feathered headdress and other stereotypical Indigenous imagery, then posted the altered image publicly, according to a state civil-rights lawsuit filed in early August 2026 by prisoner Dylan Leenheer (Gun Lake Tribe). The lawsuit, which names officers Jay Stevens and Robert Marsh and the Michigan Department of Corrections, alleges a broader pattern at the facility -- including two other prisoners, one Black and one of "Indian-national-origin," whose ID photos were similarly altered -- and that no corrections staff involved faced discipline.
ICE and GEO Group denied an elderly priest in Aurora detention adequate testing for suspected tuberculosis and cancer symptoms
Colorado Newsline reported August 14, 2026 that Edward Nalwamba, a 78-year-old retired Anglican priest from Uganda held at the GEO Group-run Aurora ICE Processing Center since September 2025, has become severely malnourished, wheelchair-bound after a fall, and continues to present chest pain and a chronic cough consistent with tuberculosis, along with an elevated prostate-specific antigen level suggesting possible cancer. His attorney says the facility has provided only cough medicine and no sputum culture, specialist workup, or other follow-up testing despite a positive TB skin test taken when he entered custody. Colorado public-health officials separately confirmed at least one active tuberculosis case at the same facility and issued orders requiring GEO's cooperation with their investigation.
DOJ found California's CDCR failed to protect women prisoners from staff sexual abuse at two facilities
On August 13, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division concluded a CRIPA investigation finding that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed to protect female prisoners at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino from a longstanding pattern of staff sexual misconduct. DOJ cited broken confidential-reporting systems, deficient investigations, and insufficient accountability, and gave California 49 days to remedy the violations before facing possible litigation.
ProPublica investigation reveals Jason Crews' Wayne Halfway House concealed abuse, skipped required reports at Tennessee youth prisons
A ProPublica and WPLN investigation published August 12, 2026 found that Tennessee businessman Jason Crews and his company, Wayne Halfway House, repeatedly failed to report abuse and serious incidents at the juvenile-detention facilities Crews operates statewide, as required within 24 hours under Tennessee law. The reporting centers on a June 29, 2024 assault at Middle Tennessee Juvenile Detention Center in Columbia that guards watched happen and did not report; the state's Department of Children's Services confirmed on the record it never received an incident report for that date. Nearly two dozen former employees and youth separately told reporters they suspected abuse went unreported across Crews' facilities.
Guardian investigation reveals ICE force-fed Kurdish asylum seeker Gabar Choli for eight months at Texas detention center
The Guardian reported August 10, 2026 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement force-fed Gabar Choli, a 40-year-old Kurdish asylum seeker and filmmaker, through a nasal tube roughly twice a day for about eight months at the Port Isabel detention center in Los Fresnos, Texas, after he began a hunger strike protesting detention conditions. Federal court records reviewed by the Guardian show ICE and DHS obtained and repeatedly renewed a federal court order authorizing the force-feeding over Choli's objection and without legal representation, before he was deported to Canada in January 2026. Choli said the treatment left him with lasting physical injuries and psychological harm; DHS said involuntary medical treatment is used only to prevent imminent life-threatening harm.
LA Public Press investigation revealed LA County women's jail had years of brown water, mold, and broken plumbing despite health citations
An LA Public Press investigation published August 5, 2026 reported that LA County's Sybil Brand Commission, the county's independent jail oversight body, found in a report submitted to the Board of Supervisors in June 2026 that Century Regional Detention Facility, the county's only women's jail in Lynwood, has had brown, foul-smelling drinking water, mold, broken plumbing, and recurring bug infestations documented since at least 2022, calling it "an ongoing and unresolved public health crisis." The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has cited the LA County Sheriff's Department, which operates the jail, for related environmental-health violations every year since 2022, and about half of the roughly 1,700-capacity facility's current population is pretrial and has not been convicted of a crime.
Michigan corrections department declined to investigate fifth death this year at Women's Huron Valley prison
Family members and advocates rallied outside Michigan Department of Corrections headquarters on July 31, 2026 to demand an independent investigation and reform after five women died at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility, Michigan's only women's prison, since mid-May 2026. MDOC declined to investigate the most recent death, of Dasie Forbes, by classifying it "expected," and the county medical examiner declined an autopsy. Separately, attorneys for incarcerated woman Krystal Clark alleged in an emergency court motion that she developed mold-related medical deterioration during months at the facility, which MDOC disputes.
Federal judge found New York prison system showed 'deliberate indifference' to incarcerated cancer patient's medical needs
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled on July 31, 2026, that officials at New York's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision acted with "deliberate indifference" toward incarcerated man David Blanding's cancer care, calling the record "nothing short of disgraceful." Blanding, diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2019, was never given his prescribed post-surgery immunotherapy and was not told for nine months that a 2025 biopsy had found prostate cancer, learning only through his attorneys; Kaplan ordered DOCCS to develop a treatment plan and report to the court every two weeks.
ICE deported Arizona detainee to El Salvador with unremoved medical tube despite hospital orders
ICE deported Salvadoran national Ana Granados Sanchez from its Eloy Detention Center in Arizona on July 28-29, 2026, with a nephrostomy tube still in place more than three months after hospital discharge orders required urologist follow-up within a week of her April 2026 surgery. An independent physician who reviewed her medical records warned before the deportation that the unmanaged tube put her at risk of irreversible complications. DHS did not respond to written press inquiries submitted more than a week before the deportation.
Court-appointed monitor found CoreCivic's California City ICE facility systemically denied detainees adequate healthcare
On July 28, 2026, a court-appointed independent medical monitor, Dr. Muthusamy Anandkumar, released a report finding that the CoreCivic-operated California City Immigration Processing Center in California City, California systemically failed to provide adequate healthcare to ICE detainees, identifying 13 deficiency areas including missing medications, months-long delays in cancer treatment, and inadequate management of chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and seizures. The report was ordered by U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney as part of an ongoing federal lawsuit filed by seven detainees alleging due-process violations at the facility. CoreCivic said it provides daily medical access and 24-hour emergency care, while lawsuit plaintiff Sokhean Keo said he never received medication prescribed for an infection.
Guardian investigation reveals ICE forcibly treated hunger-striking detainee with force-feeding, catheterization, or blood draws
A Guardian investigation reviewed an ICE Health Service Corps document, published online in February 2026, confirming for the first time that the Trump administration forcibly treated a hunger-striking immigration detainee — subjecting the unnamed patient to force-feeding, hydration, forced urinary catheterization, or involuntary blood draws after they began a hunger strike between October and December 2025. The same document discloses at least seven detainees were on hunger strike as of February 2026 and budgets over $168,000 for hunger-strike-related external medical care in fiscal year 2026. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, declined to answer questions about the treatment.
ICE and GEO Group left worm-contaminated drinking water uncorrected at Adelanto detention facility despite court-ordered fix
On July 28, 2026, a detainee at the GEO Group-run Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California shared video of worm-like organisms in the facility's drinking water, corroborated by a second detainee and immigrant-rights attorneys. The discovery came despite a federal court's July 16 preliminary injunction ordering ICE to fix water, food, and sanitation conditions at the facility; plaintiffs' counsel said ICE had met the order's monitoring requirements but not its water and sanitation mandates. DHS denied any water-quality problem and said the facility uses the same municipal supply as surrounding Adelanto.
ICE, Campbell County jail denied insulin to diabetic detainees, put miscarriage victim in solitary confinement
U.S. Reps. Gwen Moore, Delia Ramirez, and Morgan McGarvey conducted a congressional oversight visit to the Campbell County Detention Center in Newport, Kentucky, on July 27, 2026, and found diabetic ICE detainees denied insulin and given pre-diabetic medication instead. They also found that a Wisconsin constituent who miscarried in ICE custody was denied her medical records and placed in solitary confinement, and detainees reported having to pay out of pocket for medications. Campbell County Jailer James Daley disputed the allegations but confirmed the woman had been placed in an isolated medical cell after returning from the hospital.
Marshall Project investigation revealed Illinois DOC ignored fire hazards at Joliet mental health prison, killing two
A joint investigation by The Marshall Project, WBEZ, and the Chicago Sun-Times found that the Illinois Department of Corrections repeatedly failed to address fire hazards at the Joliet Treatment Center — a mental health prison — over more than three years, during which incarcerated men set themselves and their cells ablaze more than 70 times in desperate bids for medical attention. At least two men died: Jason Stephens in August 2024 after guards delayed ambulance access for 28 minutes following a July 27, 2024 cell fire, and Latrell Edwards in early 2025 after a November 2024 blaze. Government records reviewed by investigators showed inoperable fire alarms, missing sprinklers, absent evacuation plans, and repeated gate delays blocking emergency responders — all documented violations that IDOC failed to correct despite warnings from the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office.
Arizona prison agency defied inmate-healthcare injunction for 3 years and sought to hire unqualified doctors, federal judge found
U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver, in a July 16, 2026 order, denied a motion by the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) to weaken a 2023 permanent-injunction requirement that prison physicians be board-certified or board-eligible in internal medicine or family practice. Silver found that ADCRR "has utterly failed to comply with the Permanent Injunction's requirements and [has] aggressively opposed its enforcement" over the three years since the injunction issued, and that the agency never made a good-faith effort to raise physician pay despite repeated recommendations from court-appointed monitors.
Federal Bureau of Prisons held transferred ICE detainees in Miami facility with failed air conditioning and water
On July 15, 2026, wives of men held at the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami publicly alleged inhumane conditions — failed air conditioning, unreliable drinking water, denied medications, and one detainee held in solitary confinement — after their husbands were transferred there from the wildfire-evacuated Krome Detention Center. The Bureau of Prisons acknowledged a July 1 water-pressure problem and a July 6 air-conditioning chiller malfunction but said both were repaired, while families said conditions had not meaningfully improved.
Human Rights Watch and ACLU report found 90% of interviewed Camp East Montana detainees beaten or witnessed beatings by guards
On July 15, 2026, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union jointly released an 84-page report finding that 64 of 71 detainees interviewed said they had been beaten by guards or witnessed others being beaten at Camp East Montana, the ICE detention facility at the U.S. Army's Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. The report also documented denial of necessary medical care, filthy living conditions, inedible food, coercive pressure to accept deportation, and circumstances that in some cases could amount to enforced disappearance. Researchers found the abuses persisted even after ICE replaced the facility's prime contractor in March 2026.
Attorneys alleged mold exposure caused Michigan inmate Krystal Clark's medical deterioration at Women's Huron Valley prison; MDOC disputed claim
Attorneys for Krystal Clark, incarcerated at Michigan's Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility, filed an emergency federal court motion on July 6, 2026 alleging she developed severe mold-related medical deterioration -- including a fungal ear infection, hearing loss, and respiratory symptoms -- after months of exposure to mold at the facility. The Michigan Department of Corrections disputed the allegations, citing a private contractor's environmental test showing no dangerous mold levels, but temporarily transferred Clark to an outside health center on July 9, three days after the motion was filed. Clark's mold-related symptoms, including visible mold in her ears and facial swelling, had also been described independently at a February 2026 Michigan House Oversight Committee hearing.
WilmerHale review found New York prison guards' use of force rose for a decade while DOCCS substantiated few misconduct complaints
A 277-page outside review by law firm WilmerHale, ordered by Gov. Kathy Hochul after corrections officers killed prisoners Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi, found that New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision pepper-spray use rose from 124 deployments a decade earlier to 4,758 by 2024 and that use of force climbed steadily in the years before Brooks' killing. Of nearly 1,200 excessive-force complaints filed by prisoners against guards in 2024, only 40 were substantiated.
Mielun Butler, 18, stomped to death in custody at Hinds County Detention Center
Mielun Butler, an 18-year-old booked into the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond, Mississippi on July 1, 2026, was stomped to death in custody by the morning of July 3, 2026, the county coroner said. Coroner Jeremiah Howard said it appeared Butler "had shoe prints all over his head," and a video circulating on social media showed a person kicking his limp, bloodied body. The facility, overseen by the Hinds County Sheriff's Office, has a documented history of custodial-safety failures and operates under a court-appointed federal receiver.
Mexican detainee Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, 63, died in ICE custody at Webb County Detention Center in Laredo; 20th ICE death of 2026
Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, a 63-year-old Mexican national, died on June 19, 2026, about an hour after being found unresponsive and rushed from the Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, Texas, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had held him since June 16. Webb County's medical examiner said he died of natural causes with a full autopsy pending; his death was at least the fifth in Texas ICE detention in 2026 and at least the 20th nationally. The CoreCivic-operated facility had been cited in a February 2026 ICE inspection for at least nine proper-care violations, about a third involving improper medical care.
Washington Post report reveals ICE revised detention standards at Geo Group's private request, exempting detainees from minimum-wage protections
On June 16, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued new national detention standards that, according to Washington Post reporting, incorporated language privately requested by Geo Group, the country's largest private immigration detention contractor. Geo Group had asked ICE to remove contractor obligations to comply with state and local detainee-treatment laws and to add language supporting its legal position that paying detainees $1 per day does not violate minimum-wage laws because detainees are not employees. The newly published standards include both categories of change: they explicitly state that detainees are not employees and are not entitled to wages or benefits under applicable wage or labor laws.
Rubio signed memo citing Colombian activist's criticism of Trump-backed candidate as deportation grounds; ICE arrested him same day
On June 16, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a memorandum, under a rarely-used 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act provision, determining that Colombian activist Franklin Humberto "Beto" Coral Garrido's presence in the U.S. was harmful to U.S. foreign policy because he had criticized Trump-endorsed Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo De La Espriella and supported President Gustavo Petro. Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Coral at his Phoenix home that day and canceled a work permit tied to his pending asylum application.
ICE transfers most Delaney Hall hunger strikers out of Newark jail in apparent retaliation
As a hunger and labor strike at Newark's Delaney Hall ICE jail entered its third week, immigrant-rights advocates said most of the hunger strikers had been transferred out of the GEO Group-run facility to other ICE jails in apparent retaliation for the protest. The strike, which began May 22 and was initially led by an estimated 300 detainees, centers on demands that include firing a female guard accused of sexually assaulting at least 10 detained women. Human Rights Watch and the ACLU have separately documented retaliatory transfers, the use of force, and abysmal conditions at the facility.
GAO finds ICE wasted up to $11.5M and endangered detainees in rushed Camp East Montana launch
On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report (GAO-26-108886) finding that ICE rushed the opening of Camp East Montana, the nation's largest immigration detention facility and a tent camp at the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, wasting up to $11.5 million during its first two weeks in August 2025 while the camp sat empty. The watchdog found ICE awarded a roughly $1.3 billion operating contract to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a firm with no detention experience, and documented unsafe conditions including a contract guard's loss of a loaded firearm that was never recovered and the contractor's failure to provide required use-of-force and death reports. ICE terminated the Acquisition Logistics contract in March after three detainee deaths, a measles outbreak, and mounting human-rights allegations.
GEO Group cancels Delaney Hall family visits, bars Sen. Kim from speaking with detainees
On Saturday, June 6, 2026, GEO Group — the private contractor operating ICE's Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark — canceled the day's family visitation, turning away spouses and children at the gate, according to Mother Jones. U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), conducting a congressional oversight visit, was admitted but told that if he spoke with any detainee the tour would be terminated immediately. Kim reported seeing a woman curled up in visible medical distress in a women's housing unit, more than two weeks into detainees' hunger and labor strike over conditions, and said guards would not answer his questions about her.
Detainee Mamuka Artmeladze, 43, died in ICE custody at Louisiana's Winn Correctional Center; second death there in under two months
Mamuka Artmeladze, a 43-year-old national of Georgia, was found unresponsive on June 4, 2026 at Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, and was pronounced dead at a local hospital about 45 minutes later; his cause of death is pending an autopsy. He had been held at the facility for nearly four months, and his death was the second at Winn since April 11, 2026 and the 19th in ICE custody since January 1, 2026. The facility, operated by ICE contractor LaSalle Corrections with the Winn Parish Sheriff's Office, was recently cited by the DHS Office of Inspector General for violations of medical-care, use-of-force, and safety standards.
HRW: 4,353 Cubans deported to Mexico under undisclosed US deal, denied due process
In a report released May 27, 2026, Human Rights Watch documented that between January 20, 2025 and March 9, 2026 the Trump administration deported more than 18,000 third-country nationals, nearly 13,000 of them to Mexico under an undisclosed US-Mexico agreement; Cubans were the largest group, with 4,353 sent to Mexico. HRW found that none of the 53 deportees it interviewed were given any opportunity to contest their country of removal, a violation of due-process requirements under the Immigration and Nationality Act and international law, and that detainees faced overcrowding, denial of medical care, and guard violence in US custody before being left stranded in southern Mexico.
ICE and GEO Group use pepper spray and force against hunger-striking Delaney Hall detainees
Beginning around May 22, 2026, hundreds of immigrants held at the GEO Group-run Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey, launched a hunger and labor strike over conditions including spoiled food, scalding showers, and denial of medical care. As the strike continued, staff retaliated by transferring strike leaders, suspending family visitation, and, on May 28, using pepper spray, batons, and rubber projectiles against detainees in an enclosed dining hall, injuring several. White House border czar Tom Homan publicly raised the prospect of court-ordered force-feeding, while the Department of Homeland Security denied that any hunger strike was occurring.
Tennessee's execution physician botched Tony Carruthers' lethal injection; governor postponed execution one year
On May 21, 2026, the Tennessee Department of Corrections attempted to execute Tony Carruthers at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, but the appointed execution physician, Dr. Mark Fowler, spent more than 90 minutes failing to place the intravenous lines required by protocol before Governor Bill Lee called off the execution and postponed it one year. Fowler had not performed a central IV line procedure since 2013 and held no hospital privileges; the state had sought to conceal his identity under a secrecy law.
Detainees launch hunger strike over conditions at GEO Group-run Adelanto ICE complex
On May 19, 2026, at least 20 immigrants detained at the Desert View Annex — one of three facilities in the GEO Group-operated Adelanto ICE complex in Southern California — launched a hunger strike to protest custodial conditions, citing medical neglect, shrinking food portions, unsafe water, overcrowding, and retaliation against detainees who speak out. Their demands include due process and bond reform, adequate medical and mental-health care, nutritious food, accountability for deaths in custody, and the right to organize. The Department of Homeland Security denied that any hunger strike is taking place.
CBP detained pregnant Ghanaian woman and disabled son at Dulles Airport for over a week
On May 19, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers detained Annabella Gyasi, a pregnant 38-year-old Ghanaian woman traveling on a valid visa with her young son for a medical appointment, at Washington Dulles International Airport after she said she feared returning to Ghana. DHS and CBP held the pair for more than a week in a windowless holding room, during which Gyasi was hospitalized twice for pregnancy complications.
Woman gives birth on a Brooklyn courtroom bench while in custody awaiting arraignment
On the night of May 15, 2026, Samantha Randazzo, 33 and nine months pregnant, gave birth to a boy on a bench inside Kings County Criminal Court in Brooklyn while in NYPD custody awaiting arraignment on low-level drug-possession and trespassing charges, hours after a city hospital discharged her back into custody. Public defenders who witnessed the birth said she was restrained and lacked medical care, privacy, or dignity; the state Office of Court Administration disputes that she was shackled to the bench. The Brooklyn District Attorney's office later dismissed her charges.
Michigan prison staff dismissed inmate's blood-clot symptoms as lies days before her fatal pulmonary embolism
Khaira Howard, 28, died at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti, Michigan on May 13, 2026, days before a scheduled parole release, after corrections staff dismissed her reports that she had lost feeling in her legs. An autopsy the Michigan Department of Corrections released July 9, 2026 found the cause of death was a pulmonary thromboembolism caused by a deep vein thrombosis in her lower leg -- the same symptom a prisoner-observation aide said staff had disbelieved.
DOJ directs the Federal Bureau of Prisons to expand federal execution protocol to include the firing squad
On April 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced — in a same-day press release from the Office of Public Affairs paired with the Office of Legal Policy report "Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty" — that it had directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to expand the federal execution protocol to include the firing squad alongside other methods, and to reinstate the pentobarbital lethal-injection protocol used during the first Trump administration. The DOJ also directed BOP to consider relocating or expanding federal death row or constructing an additional execution facility to accommodate the added methods. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the action; the underlying report's preparation had been directed by former Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
ORR held immigrant toddler five months in foster care and concealed alleged sexual abuse from father
Between September 2025 and February 2026, the Office of Refugee Resettlement held a three-year-old girl, separated from her mother at the border, for approximately five months in a Harlingen, Texas foster placement. During that period the child was allegedly sexually abused by an older child in care; ORR told her father there had been an "accident" and refused further details. After attorneys filed a federal habeas corpus petition, ORR released the girl to her father two days later. Only then did the father learn the "accident" was alleged sexual abuse. The family has filed suit against ORR and HHS alleging unlawful prolonged detention and custodial failure to protect.
Lawyer alleges GardaWorld guards beat, pepper-sprayed detainees at Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz' facility
According to a sworn court declaration by attorney Katherine Blankenship, on April 2, 2026, guards employed by security contractor GardaWorld Federal Services allegedly beat and pepper-sprayed several detainees inside a locked cell at Florida's state-run "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention facility in the Everglades. Blankenship's declaration alleges the guards retaliated after detainees complained that the facility's phones — their only means of confidential contact with counsel — were not working; one detainee was allegedly punched, thrown to the floor, kicked in the head, and restrained with a knee on his neck, while another detainee's wrist was broken.
Activist Malik Muhammad vanishes from Oregon custody records, transferred to South Carolina
Malik Muhammad — an Army veteran and activist serving the longest federal sentence of any 2020 Black Lives Matter protester — disappeared from Oregon's inmate-tracking system for weeks in spring 2026 before supporters learned they had been transferred roughly 3,000 miles to Kirkland Correctional Institution in South Carolina, a facility designated a "confidential location." In mid-May, South Carolina's prison system told The Intercept it had no record of anyone named Malik Muhammad in its custody, and Muhammad's Oregon-based attorney has been unable to communicate with them in a privileged manner since the transfer. Muhammad's attorney characterizes the interstate transfer as retaliation for helping other incarcerated people pursue a class-action suit over Oregon's use of solitary confinement; Oregon flatly denies the transfer was retaliatory.
José Guadalupe Ramos-Solano dies in ICE custody at GEO Group-run Adelanto facility
José Guadalupe Ramos-Solano, a 45-year-old Mexican national, was found unconscious in his bunk and pronounced dead on March 25, 2026, while detained at the GEO Group-operated Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California. Other detainees said he had complained of overheating and difficulty breathing hours earlier and that staff did not respond until he was unresponsive. His death was the 14th known death in ICE custody in 2026 and at least the fourth at the Adelanto complex since 2025, prompting Mexico's Los Angeles consulate and two members of Congress to demand an investigation.
ICE held nearly 1,560 children past 20-day Flores limit at Dilley facility over six months; 13-year-old attempted suicide after care denied
Court filings submitted March 20, 2026, and July 15, 2026, in the Flores v. Bondi/Blanche family-detention case documented that nearly 1,560 immigrant children were held at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Dilley, Texas facility beyond the 20-day limit set by the Flores settlement over a six-month window, without adequate food, medical care, or mental-health services. The March 20 filings described a 13-year-old girl who attempted suicide by cutting her wrist after Dilley staff withheld her prescribed antidepressants and denied her request to be reunited with her mother, even as the government's own records reported "no placements on suicide watch." The Department of Homeland Security disputed the allegations and reiterated that the administration is seeking to terminate the Flores settlement altogether.
ICE detainee Emmanuel Damas died from untreated tooth infection at CoreCivic Arizona facility
Emmanuel Damas, a 56-year-old Haitian asylum seeker from Boston, died on March 2, 2026, after a tooth infection went untreated for approximately a week at the CoreCivic-operated Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex. Detainees reported he received only ibuprofen despite worsening symptoms. His family was barred from visiting him in intensive care for nine days, by which point he was shackled to a hospital bed and unable to speak. He was one of thirteen people who died in ICE custody in the first three months of 2026.
ICE detained Alberto Gutierrez Reyes, who died at Adelanto facility after repeated denied requests for medical care
Alberto Gutierrez Reyes, 48, died February 27, 2026 at a Victorville hospital after transfer from GEO Group's Adelanto ICE Processing Center, where he had repeatedly sought medical care for worsening symptoms. His wife said he was denied treatment; ICE said he had been evaluated before transport. Mexico later named his death among 17 in a July 2026 criminal complaint against U.S. officials, and a federal judge ordered ICE to fix Adelanto's medical care — an order the government is now appealing.
Federal judge stripped Arizona prison agency of control over inmate healthcare, ordering receivership
On February 19, 2026, U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver ordered Arizona's prison healthcare system into court receivership, finding the Department of Corrections had violated 131 of 154 standards required under a 2023 permanent injunction and that 14 years of litigation, contempt fines, and monitoring had failed to produce compliance. The 83-page order authorizes an independent receiver to take over healthcare operations across Arizona's nine state prisons, with authority to hire and fire staff, renegotiate or terminate the roughly $300 million NaphCare contract, set budgets, and override department administrators. ADCRR called the order "exorbitantly expensive" and "unnecessary" and said it would appeal.
ICE deports critically ill 2-month-old and family to Mexico after hospitalization
On February 17, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a critically ill two-month-old, Juan Nicolás, to Mexico along with his mother, father, and 16-month-old sister, hours after the infant was hospitalized for bronchitis and roughly three and a half weeks after the family was taken into custody at the CoreCivic-run South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. The baby had become unresponsive and was treated at a Pearsall hospital the night of February 16, then discharged around midnight and returned to detention; Rep. Joaquin Castro, who had demanded the child's release, called the removal "heinous," while ICE described the hospital visit as a "precautionary evaluation" and said the child received "proper care."
Former Bucks County deputy sheriff Ryan Gaffney photographed naked people in custody with personal phone
On January 30, 2026, Ryan Gaffney, then a Bucks County deputy sheriff, covered his body camera and used his personal cellphone to photograph a man who was naked from the waist down and suffering a mental health crisis during a warrant execution in Middletown Township. Gaffney shared the image with female employees in the sheriff's office and sent it to personal contacts. A court-ordered forensic search later uncovered a second incident from December 26, 2024, in which Gaffney photographed a handcuffed man in custody in a hotel room and distributed that image to 12 personal contacts over four dates.
Alligator Alcatraz guards Trejos and Seenaraine allegedly battered detainee during Jan. 25 transfer at Florida facility
On Jan. 25, 2026, Critical Response Strategies corrections officers Stephen Trejos and Andre Seenaraine allegedly battered detainee Rigoberto Rodriguez Arce, a Cuban national ICE had detained weeks earlier, during a chaotic detainee transfer at Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention facility in Ochopee. A witness said Trejos slammed Rodriguez Arce to the ground and struck him after handcuffed detainees banged their cuffs on benches, and that Seenaraine later punched him in another room; Trejos's attorney says surveillance video instead shows a single "compliance strike" after Rodriguez Arce spat at him. Collier County prosecutors charged both officers with misdemeanor battery in June 2026, both pleaded not guilty, and the case became public in September 2026.
CoreCivic held ~1,500 Dilley detainees, many children, in what detainees described as putrid water and bug-contaminated food, sparking mass protest
On January 24, 2026, an estimated 80% of the roughly 1,500-1,900 people held at CoreCivic's South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas -- many of them children -- staged a roughly 30-minute protest, chanting "Libertad" and "let us out," after guards ordered visiting attorneys to leave and physically blocked other detainees from joining; the Frio County Sheriff's office, Texas DPS, and Border Patrol responded. Detainees told immigration attorney Eric Lee, present for a client visit, that drinking water was "putrid" and meals contained "bugs," dirt, and debris, describing conditions attorneys said had not changed despite a prior lawsuit alleging inhumane food, water, and medical care at the facility.
DHS denies Minneapolis immigration detainees, including a U.S. citizen, access to lawyers
During Operation Metro Surge, federal agents held people swept up in Minneapolis-area immigration raids — including at least one U.S. citizen — inside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building and systematically denied them access to attorneys. Lawyers reported being turned away for days with shifting, legally invalid excuses, while detainees were allowed an outgoing call only after being booked and transferred to out-of-state facilities. DHS denied any violation, but the pattern was corroborated by four named attorneys, two U.S. senators, and a class-action suit that produced a March 2026 court order requiring prompt attorney access before any transfer.
Alabama prison officials transferred 'Alabama Solution' whistleblowers to extreme solitary confinement
In mid-January 2026, the Alabama Department of Corrections abruptly transferred incarcerated activists Raoul Poole, Robert Earl Council ("Kinetik Justice"), and Melvin Ray — subjects of the Oscar-nominated documentary "The Alabama Solution" — from their prisons to an isolated five-cell solitary confinement unit at Kilby Correctional Facility near Montgomery, Alabama. The transfer followed the men's December 2025 announcement of a nonviolent work strike, and their attorneys and family said prison officials gave no reason and cut the men off from contact with other prisoners, staff, and initially their families.
ICE routes Diaz autopsy to military hospital, bypassing ME who ruled prior Camp East Montana death a homicide
Victor Manuel Diaz, a 36-year-old Nicaraguan detained in the Minneapolis area under Operation Metro Surge, died on January 14, 2026 at Camp East Montana, the ICE tent facility on the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, Texas — eight days after his arrest and roughly 1,200 miles from where he was taken. ICE called the death a "presumed suicide," but his family rejected that account, and the agency routed his autopsy to a military hospital that withholds its findings from the public, bypassing the El Paso County medical examiner who had ruled an earlier detainee's death at the same camp a homicide. Diaz was the third person to die at Camp East Montana in a 44-day span.
ICE detained Parady La, who died in Philadelphia federal custody after staff gave Narcan for his known drug withdrawal
On January 9, 2026, Parady La, a 46-year-old Cambodian American Upper Darby, Pennsylvania resident, died at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him and held him at the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Federal Detention Center Philadelphia. ICE said La was being treated for drug withdrawal when he was found unresponsive in his cell and given several doses of Narcan before being hospitalized; his family and the ACLU of Pennsylvania have questioned why an opioid-overdose antidote, not standard withdrawal care, was administered. The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request on February 5, 2026 seeking his detention, medical, and video records.
Cuban ICE detainee dies under restraint at Camp East Montana; death ruled a homicide
On January 3, 2026, Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban man, died at ICE's Camp East Montana detention camp on the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, Texas. The El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide, finding the cause to be asphyxia due to neck and torso compression while he was being physically restrained by law enforcement. ICE first said he died after "experiencing medical distress," then attributed the death to a suicide attempt and an ensuing struggle with staff; it was the third detainee death at the facility, and no one has been charged.
2025 Events (10)
Nevada prison guards beat inmate Malik Avila during cell extraction, causing fatal brain injury; coroner ruled death natural
On November 4, 2025, a Nevada Department of Corrections Correctional Emergency Response Team went hands-on with 24-year-old inmate Malik Avila during a cell extraction at High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs, Nevada, after his family reported he was having a seizure; a recording captured Avila pleading "please stop, please stop" during the takedown. Avila was airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital and died 18 days later, on November 22, 2025, from lack of oxygen and brain damage; the Clark County Coroner classified the death as natural, but a wrongful-death lawsuit filed August 4, 2026 alleges guards beat Avila and that the warden gave the family false information about the incident.
ICE and CBP agents body-slammed 79-year-old U.S. citizen car wash owner during Van Nuys raid, held him nearly 12 hours without medical care
Masked federal agents from ICE, CBP, and DHS raided Valley Car Wash in Van Nuys, Los Angeles on September 9, 2025, and, per surveillance video and the owner's account, body-slammed and restrained 79-year-old U.S. citizen Rafie Ollah Shouhed after he tried to show them his employees' work authorization. Shouhed was handcuffed and held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles for nearly 12 hours without medical attention despite pleading that he had a heart condition, then released without charges. He suffered broken ribs, elbow injuries, and post-concussive symptoms of a traumatic brain injury.
DHS opened 'Camp 57' ICE detention unit inside Angola prison's former solitary-confinement wing for civil immigration detainees
On September 3, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the opening of "Camp 57," an ICE detention facility inside Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola), occupying the facility's former Camp J solitary-confinement wing — a section shuttered approximately seven years earlier after cell locks malfunctioned, dozens of weapons were found, and more than 80 staff resigned or were fired for misconduct. The facility opened with 51 civil immigration detainees and a stated capacity of 416; courts later ordered four detainees released citing conditions.
ICE and GEO Group denied diabetic detainee Elton Purvis insulin and care, causing repeated hospitalizations at Pearsall facility
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and GEO Group, which operates the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas, confiscated detainee Elton Purvis's insulin and malaria medication and denied him food meeting his diabetic and religious dietary needs during his May-to-December 2025 detention. Purvis, a 55-year-old legal permanent resident and Type 1 diabetic, was found unresponsive and hospitalized for dangerously abnormal blood sugar at least three times — the first on June 2, 2025 — after guards repeatedly ignored his pleas for help and his more than 100 grievances to ICE went unanswered.
Georgia Gov. Kemp signed SB185, barring state-funded gender dysphoria treatment for transgender people in state prisons
On May 8, 2025, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 185 into law, barring the use of state funds or resources to provide gender dysphoria treatment - including hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery - to people in Georgia state custody. The law singled out incarcerated transgender people for the denial of medically recognized care that many had already been receiving.
Kentucky enacted SB2 barring hormone therapy and gender-reassignment surgery for transgender state inmates
On March 27, 2025, Kentucky Senate Bill 2 became law without Gov. Andy Beshear's signature, prohibiting state correctional facilities from initiating hormone therapy for transgender inmates and banning gender-reassignment surgery outright. The Republican-controlled legislature passed the measure 31-6 in the Senate and 73-12 in the House; a floor amendment let inmates already receiving hormone therapy at admission continue it. The law made Kentucky one of several states in 2025 to restrict gender-affirming medical care for incarcerated people.
TDCJ staff falsified Stiles Unit prison heat logs during federal lawsuit; investigation found leadership likely knew or consented
An internal investigation by the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, made public on March 21, 2025, found that Texas Department of Criminal Justice staff at the Mark W. Stiles Unit in Beaumont falsified temperature logs during summer 2022, in the middle of federal litigation over unconstitutional prison heat conditions. The investigation concluded the Stiles Unit warden and other unit leadership "likely knew about or even consented to the falsification," corroborating a federal judge's own August 2022 characterization of one log as "a fabricated document." TDCJ's attorneys acknowledged the logs were inaccurate but denied any intent to mislead the court.
Cuyahoga County jail staff failed to give dying detainee Jennifer Wade CPR for more than 20 minutes
On February 23, 2025, corrections staff at the Cuyahoga County jail found 41-year-old Jennifer Wade unresponsive in her mental-health-unit cell but waited more than 20 minutes to begin CPR, and none of the responding officers or contracted MetroHealth nurses performed chest compressions as she died. Body-camera video later showed staff had left Wade on the concrete floor of her cell for hours, with one officer telling her to "stop playing," before anyone sounded an alarm. An initial state review cleared the jail, but after the withheld footage surfaced Ohio's Bureau of Adult Detention reopened the case and found the staff had failed to render aid.
Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a memo directing transfer of transgender inmates to facilities matching birth sex and cutting affirming care
On February 21, 2025, the Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a memo implementing President Trump's Executive Order 14168, directing staff to refer to transgender inmates by the legal name and pronouns matching their sex assigned at birth, barring the use of funds for gender-affirming items and care, and suspending clothing and pat-search accommodations and support programs previously offered to transgender inmates. The memo laid the groundwork to transfer transgender women out of women's facilities into men's facilities based on sex assigned at birth. Affected women were moved into segregated housing pending transfer, and those slated for men's prisons faced the cutoff of their hormone treatments.
ICE officers beat disabled Sunnyvale man Ulises Peña López unconscious during 2025 arrest, lawsuit alleges
On February 21, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Ulises Peña López, a disabled carpenter, outside his home in Sunnyvale, California, and, according to a federal lawsuit filed in July 2026, beat him in front of his wife and young daughter before taking him to a nearby alley and continuing until he lost consciousness and had to be hospitalized. The suit says GEO Group and CoreCivic, the private contractors that ran the detention facilities where he was held for more than six months, failed to accommodate his disability, and that he suffered a stroke and a heart attack in custody that left him partially paralyzed. He was deported to Mexico in October 2025.
2024 Events (3)
San Diego County sheriff's deputies ignored Bobby Ray Patton's pleas for help during Vista jail safety checks; he died hours later
Bobby Ray Patton, 46, died December 28, 2024, at the Vista Detention Facility in Vista, California, after two San Diego County sheriff's deputies conducted routine safety checks but failed to respond as he audibly pleaded for medical help. Body-worn camera footage showed Deputy 3 turning away and switching off his camera after Patton said "I can't breathe" and "please help me"; Deputy 1 passed his cell less than an hour later while Patton was audibly moaning and also did not intervene. Patton died at 8:45 a.m. after a third deputy finally summoned medical staff around 7:51 a.m., too late to save him.
San Diego County sheriff's deputy Jeremiah Flores fractured a handcuffed detainee's spine, then falsified his report
On August 29, 2024, San Diego County Sheriff's Office Deputy Jeremiah Flores shoved a handcuffed, non-resisting pretrial detainee headfirst into the wall of a courthouse holding cell, fracturing the man's spine and causing a head injury that required surgery. Flores rendered no aid, left the injured man on the cell floor for more than two hours, and wrote in his incident report that no force had been used. He was later convicted of federal civil-rights and records-falsification charges and sentenced to 57 months in prison.
York County PA jail failed to charge inmate's defibrillator vest and ignored chest-pain reports; he died within 48 hours of intake
Todd Sidesinger was booked into York County Prison in Pennsylvania on February 18, 2024 — three days after being discharged from a heart-failure hospitalization during which two cardiac stents were inserted. Staff noted at intake that his prescribed defibrillator vest needed charging but that no charger was available; the vest was never charged during his detention. On February 19, Sidesinger submitted a medical request reporting chest pain; an EKG showing Premature Ventricular Contractions was deemed "normal" and he was given acetaminophen. On February 20 he reported chest pain again and was sent back to his cell; he was found unconscious at approximately 5:25 a.m. and died after hospitalization. His sister filed a wrongful-death suit against PrimeCare Medical, the jail's for-profit medical contractor, York County, and the warden.
2023 Events (1)
Huerfano County jail staff denied dying inmate Michael Burch medical care for 8 days after tackle injury; he died in his cell
On March 28, 2023, a Huerfano County, Colorado detention officer tased and tackled 69-year-old inmate Michael Burch, fracturing six ribs and collapsing a lung, and jail staff and the facility's contracted healthcare provider then denied him hospital care despite his repeated pleas over the following eight days. Burch died in his cell at the Huerfano County Detention Center on April 4, 2023, and a coroner ruled the death a homicide.
2022 Events (1)
Federal judge found Arizona's prison healthcare system unconstitutional after 15-day trial
On June 30, 2022, U.S. District Judge Roslyn O. Silver ruled that the Arizona Department of Corrections had "failed to provide, and continues to refuse to provide, a constitutionally adequate medical care and mental health care system" for the roughly 34,000 people in its custody, violating the Eighth Amendment. The 200-page ruling followed a 15-day bench trial in a class action originally filed in 2012, after Silver rescinded a 2014 settlement in 2021 upon finding the state had committed "pervasive material breaches" of its terms.
2021 Events (1)
Mississippi prison healthcare contractors delayed woman's cancer diagnosis for a decade, concealed result until days before her release
Prison healthcare contractors overseeing Susie Balfour's care at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl allowed mammogram follow-ups to lapse for up to three years at a time between 2011 and 2021, despite prison physicians' own recommendation for annual and later twice-yearly screening. A November 3, 2021 biopsy found her breast cancer had progressed to an advanced stage; Balfour said she was not told of the result until days before her December 27, 2021 release. She died of the metastasized cancer in 2025.
2018 Events (1)
Connecticut prison officers struck and pepper-sprayed inmate J'Allen Jones, who died; medical examiner ruled the death a homicide
On March 25, 2018, correctional officers at Connecticut's Garner Correctional Institution struck, hooded, and pepper-sprayed J'Allen Jones, a 31-year-old incarcerated man in a schizophrenic crisis, who then lost consciousness and died. The state medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, but a Department of Correction internal review found no use-of-force violation and imposed one-day suspensions on the officers and a nurse. The department fought for years to keep video of the death sealed, until a judge ordered its public release in 2026.