Florida migrant detention center subject of federal complaint

A former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee in Florida mentioned a bunch of officers threatened to take him to solitary confinement, then assaulted him, in keeping with a federal grievance filed by a number of immigration teams.

The allegation is a part of a 102-page grievance in opposition to the Baker County Detention Middle in Macclenny by a bunch of 15 present and former immigration detainees who allege a “sample of abuse.”

The grievance contains allegations that the guards threatened detainees with solitary confinement and retaliated in opposition to them once they filed inside complaints. One petition signed by 130 immigrants on the facility accuses officers of placing detainees in cells with out cameras to allow them to mistreat them.

Different allegations describe unsanitary situations attributable to insufficient clothes, underwear, bedding, and bathrooms. One incident described within the grievance alleges that 5 detainees have been positioned in a holding cell with “one rest room with no privateness, no sink for hand washing, no cleaning soap, no rest room paper, and no skill to social distance on the top of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

As well as, the grievance alleges that one officer at Baker County Detention Middle in Macclenny punched him and broke Eric Martinez’s nostril whereas he was restrained and one other positioned a spit guard over his face as he bled.

“I assumed I used to be going to move out,” Martinez advised ABC Information.

Martinez claims earlier than the alleged assault in January 2019, he had beforehand filed a grievance about officers not giving him time within the library to work on his immigration court docket case, his grievance mentioned.

The grievance in opposition to the detention middle, which is operated by the Baker County Sheriff’s Workplace and overseen by ICE alleges “officers rushed him and assaulted him” and one sergeant “punched him within the face with a closed fist, breaking his nostril.”

The guards positioned Martinez in solitary confinement for a number of weeks, the place he initiated a starvation strike to protest the situations, the grievance alleges.

In a disciplinary report of the incident involving Martinez, Baker County Sheriff’s Workplace accused Martinez of turning into combative with officers throughout a dispute over the TV quantity in a dorm and of unruly habits by detainees within the dorm. In accordance with that report, Martinez refused to let deputies restrain him, inflicting him to strike a wall at one level.

Baker County Undersheriff Randy Crews advised ABC Information the allegations in opposition to the ability are “not true” and are “distortions.”

“I can emphatically say there isn’t any inmates or detainees at our facility being handled inhumanely,” he mentioned.

Crews additionally mentioned that not one of the 16 organizations that filed the grievance ever spoke to his workers concerning the allegations once they visited the ability and that he has by no means been advised by any inspector that detainees are being handled inhumanely.

A spokesperson for ICE advised ABC Information that the ability underwent an inspection in Might 2022, and obtained an “acceptable ranking.”

“ICE takes very critically the well being, security, and welfare of these in our care. ICE is dedicated to making sure the welfare of all these within the company’s custody, together with offering entry to essential and acceptable medical care,” the ICE spokesperson mentioned.

That inspection was carried out by a third-party contractor, the Nakamoto Group Inc., which mentioned there have been no “areas of concern” and that the ability met ICE requirements. The grievance claims the inspection was not correctly carried out and that it happened throughout a starvation strike.

“As a result of it was a pre-planned inspection, Baker workers have been in a position to choose detained individuals they thought would converse effectively of the jail, whereas others who had signed as much as converse with inspectors weren’t permitted to take action,” the grievance mentioned

In 2019, a Division of Homeland Safety inspector common report discovered that residing situations at Baker and two different amenities throughout the nation “not solely violate ICE detention requirements, however, in some situations, might also pose a well being and security threat to detainees.” The report additionally said that detainees at 4 amenities, together with Baker County, “had difficulties resolving points by the grievance and communication system.”

The report mentioned ICE took corrective motion to repair the problems that have been discovered within the report.

“The issues they talked about have been actually horrific situations and abusive remedy. There have been some incidents detailed within the grievance that embrace racist harassment, extreme use of pressure, situations of bodily assault, together with the frequent use of pepper spray and bodily constraints,” Layla Razavi, co-executive director of Freedom For Immigrants, one of many teams that filed the grievance, advised ABC Information. “Additionally, retaliation and intimidation as punishment for people who find themselves inside and advocating for themselves.”

Andrea Jacoski, director of the Detention Program at People for Immigrant Justice, mentioned the allegations at Baker additionally mirror ones raised at a distinct facility in Florida. Her group joined the grievance relating to Baker and was additionally a part of a broader coalition that efficiently advocated for ICE to reduce its utilization of the Glades County Detention Middle after a number of migrants raised the alarm about allegations of abusive situations.

Jacoski advised ABC Information that some former detainees at Glades have been transferred to Baker, so that they already knew methods to advocate for themselves and stage starvation strikes. ABC Information spoke to Jacoski on July 28, per week after the grievance was filed, and he or she mentioned one detainee had already reported that

“One caller mentioned he was experiencing retaliation for reporting and speaking about ICE. He mentioned there have been three shakedowns within the final two weeks,” she mentioned.

Martinez had surgical procedure to restore his nostril earlier than he was deported to Colombia in October 2019. With the assistance of a lawyer, he continues to attempt to receive footage of what he says occurred on the detention middle. He mentioned the photographs will show that he was attacked.

“If I am a liar, the video will present that, however I am telling the reality and it’ll show my innocence,” he mentioned.