Abuse of thousands of migrants at federal immigration detention centers in Louisiana is rampant, inhumane and meets the legal definition of torture, according to a report published on Monday by a coalition of human rights groups.
Accusations include the shackling of detainees for lengthy periods in painful positions, filthy drinking water, food contaminated by rat feces and served in meager portions, and a denial of or restricted access to medical and mental health treatment.
Additionally, the report alleges, women are routinely refused essential menstrual products, some restrained detainees were denied food, water, exercise or restroom facilities for more than 24 hours at a time and others were taunted, beaten or sexually assaulted by guards.
The allegations draw on interviews over a two-year period with more than 6,200 people held in nine Louisiana detention centers under the purview of the New Orleans immigration and customs enforcement field office (Nola Ice).
The report paints a damning picture of a miserable life in the facilities, eight of which are run by private contractors that have made substantial financial contributions for lobbying and to various politicians’ campaigns.
“These individuals have fled persecution and violence only to be thrown in ‘civil’ detention and left to fend for themselves in an abusive, profit-driven and manipulative system,” said Sarah Decker, staff attorney at Robert F Kennedy Human Rights and one of the report’s lead authors.
“We’ve heard horrific stories that have been corroborated by extensive documentation. Our findings further support what detained people and their advocates have long demanded. The Nola Ice jails must be shut down.”
In a statement to the Guardian on Monday, Ice ERO (enforcement and removal operations) said it was “firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody” and that a continual review of immigration centers nationally monitored “the quality of life and treatment of individuals among other factors relevant to the continued operation of each facility”.
Geo Group, one of the two companies named in the report, issued a strongly worded statement rejecting the findings.
“Geo categorically denies the claims being alleged by politically motivated groups who have a long history of making such claims for the purpose of ending immigration detention and stands by our provision of contract compliant support services in accordance with all established federal standards,” it said.
The 107-page report, entitled Inside the Black Hole: Systemic Human Rights Abuses Against Immigrants Detained and Disappeared in Louisiana, was authored by RFK Human Rights, state and national offices of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Immigration Project and Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy.
It notes that Louisiana is the second-largest state for immigration detention behind Texas – and that on any given day more than 6,000 people, comprising recently arrived asylum seekers as well as longer-term US residents from other countries, are in Ice custody there.
“Nola Ice officials operate immigration detention centers as punishing prisons designed to break the will and harm the mental wellbeing of detained people,” the report states.
“Officials rampantly violate human and civil rights, locking [detainees] in punitive conditions indistinguishable from those in criminal jails and prisons, in some cases for prolonged periods lasting years.
“In some instances, the abuses that detained people describe first-hand in this report meet the definitions of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment under international human rights treaties to which the US is a party.”
Many are forced to stay longer than they otherwise might because of communications issues and a denial of access to immigration lawyers or libraries at the facilities containing legal books, the report says.
“For years, we have been on the ground in Louisiana’s detention facilities, many of which are in isolated rural areas, conducting Know Your Rights presentations and providing legal assistance to as many individuals as we can,” said Andrew Perry, ACLU of Louisiana’s immigrant rights staff attorney.
“The conditions in these facilities are inhumane, as this report shows in heartbreaking detail. The federal government has turned immigration detention into a profit machine at the expense of both asylum seekers and longtime residents of the US. These facilities must be shut down.”
Along with physical and mental abuse, detainees at the facilities – mostly in northern Louisiana – recounted sleep deprivation and poor or nonexistent nutrition. Detainees at one institution say they were frequently woken at 3am for minuscule breakfast portions while others earning $1 a day for menial tasks found that a single bag of Doritos in the facility’s store was priced at $9.
“Immigration detention is lucrative, even more so when jails avoid providing basic services like suitable food and clothing,” the report states.
“To ensure maximum profits, Nola Ice jails are incentivized to cut costs by understaffing facilities, paying detained people subminimum wages for custodial and other labor services, and denying sufficient food, clothing, and medical care, among other abuses.”
The human rights groups detail what they call the “perverse financial incentives” of the two companies that operate eight of the state’s nine detention centers between them.
Geo Group, a Florida-based company, in February reported annual revenues of $2.41bn for 2023.
No contact details were listed on the website of the LaSalle Corrections, which says its 1,250 staff operate 18 correctional centers and other facilities in Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Last year, the company was required to pay $7m to settle the case of a Texas woman whose family claimed she was denied water and medical care in one of its prisons – and that LaSalle staff falsified records after her death.
LaSalle, according to the report, “touts itself as a family-run business [that] does not publicly report its earnings”.
In its statement, Ice said: “The agency continuously reviews and enhances civil detention operations to ensure noncitizens are treated humanely, protected from harm, provided appropriate medical and mental health care, and receive the rights and protections to which they are entitled.
“Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay. All people in Ice custody receive medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering Ice custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.
“At no time during detention is a detained noncitizen denied emergent care.”
