During the last three years locally run jails and privately operated prisons housed more than 74,000 immigrant detainees in California, including individuals as young as 13 and as old as 95, from over 150 different countries. Detainees were held for more than 50 days on average, with the longest stay at a single facility exceeding four years.
That's according to a new report from the state Department of Justice, which found detainees' experiences varied drastically, but there were common problems across facilities:
- Prolonged periods of confinement without breaks, with some detainees confined in cells for up to 22 hours a day.
- Significant language barriers, which affect legal and medical care.
- Difficulties accessing medical and mental health care, increasing the risk of a major incident.
- Barriers to external communication, limiting contact with family and support systems.
- Barriers to legal representation.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the results of the investigation Tuesday. The full report can be read here.
The report was released under a measure, Assembly Bill 103, passed in 2017 that gave the state attorney general powers to inspect immigration detention facilities, with full access to immigrants, staff and relevant documents. AB 103 established a 10-year period in which the state Department of Justice reports on the conditions of detention and standards of care for immigration detainees; this is the first report under the law.
"We intend to keep visiting these facilities and sharing our findings over the course of the next several years. We are confident that our effort will continue to be a source of information for the public and for policymakers in California as we work to promote fair and humane treatment of everyone in the immigration system," said Becerra.
The Trump administration is seeking to overturn the law, and two others. This summer, a federal judge in Sacramento denied that request, but the federal government has appealed.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holds more than a dozen contracts for detention services with local governments in California, to provide guaranteed housing for detainees as needed. But the federal agency does not use all of the facilities to hold detainees. The majority of immigrant detainees in the state are held at private prisons in Southern California.
To complete this report, state DOJ investigators conducted one-day visits at seven facilities: Adelanto ICE Processing Center, Imperial Regional Detention Facility, James A. Musick facility, Mesa Vere ICE Processing Facility, Otay Mesa Detention Center, Rio Consumes Correction Center and the Yuba County Jail. The DOJ staff also more comprehensively reviewed three public facilities: Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility, Theo Lacy Facility in Orange County and West County Detention Facility in Contra Costa County (before it was closed).
However, not all facilities worked with investigators.
The Adelanto ICE Processing Center is the second largest immigration detention center in the United States. The facility can hold up to 1,940 people and is run by GEO GROUP, a private company. State DOJ investigators asked ICE for a two-week site visit, and to speak with staff and detainees. But investigators only received a several hour tour, and were unable to interview staff or detainees.
For years detainees and advocates have complained about conditions at Adelanto, while federal inspectors have detailed significant health and safety risks. In 2017, detainees filed two class action lawsuits against GEO Group. And last year, the Office of Inspector General found that detainees did not receive timely or adequate medical care, expressed concern that investigators found nooses in detainees' cells and outlined overly restrictive segregation standards.
GEO, which runs the facility in Adelanto, responded with a statement saying they will continue to work with government partners. "While we’ve not yet fully reviewed the report issued today by the California Attorney General’s Office, we look forward to doing so. In all of the facilities that we manage on behalf of the federal government, including those in California, we are deeply committed to delivering high-quality, culturally responsive services in safe and humane environments," read the statement.
