A detention center located in New Mexico is under scrutiny after a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is accusing the Cibola County Correctional Center of presenting "inadequate or nonexistent" medical care for migrants being detained there. The report also claims inmates and staff at the center conduct drug-dealing activities there.
The correctional center is a private prison contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and owned and operated by CoreCivic, which also owns two other prisons in New Mexico, including the Torrance County Detention Facility which has also received complaints of inhumane treatment and abuse by staff as they await a resolution to their asylum requests.
Earlier this year, written statements from asylum seekers described unfair asylum proceedings, abuse by guards, unfair wages for labor done inside, bug-infested and rotting food as well as dirty drinking water, a lack of sunlight and fresh air and inadequate medical care at the Torrance facility.
And according to the complaint filed on Dec. 9, the Cibola County Correctional Center might be experiencing the same problems. Migrants detained at the facility say staff shows apathy towards their medical needs. They added that the facility is currently understaffed, as only 55% of the medical positions are currently filled.
In one of the testimonies made by Venezuelan immigrant Erick Andrade, he said to have experienced medical neglect at both the Torrance and Cibola facilities. He says that after arriving at the U.S. border in December 2023, he experienced months of "horrific conditions of confinement, medical neglect, coercion and mistreatment by ICE and CoreCivic officials."
Another one of the detainee's whose name is redacted in the complaint said he experienced at least one epileptic seizure as a result of the center's sporadic administration of medication.
The complaint also claims people being held at the Cibola facility are endangered by drug-trafficking activities conducted by staff and inmates. Just last month, the New Mexico Department of Justice along with the FBI and the U.S. Marshalls Service conducted an operation at the facility seizing 15 firearms along with fentanyl, methamphetamine, and suboxone strips, $6,000 in cash and 23 cellphones.
The latest complaint against detention centers owned and managed by CoreCivic calls for DHS to investigate medical practices at the Cibola facility and ensure both ICE and CoreCivic to be held responsible for the violation of federal detention standards as well as ensuring adequate medical care is provided to detainees.
In response, CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustlin said that providing health care remains "a critical component of our mission and a major part of the positive impact we make for those in our care." Gustlin added that the Cibola detention center counts with an on-site clinic "staffed with licensed, credentialed healthcare professionals" and ensures access to off-site care when needed.
In the statement, Gustlin said that every individual held at the Cibola facility has daily access to sign up for medical care and that there is a 24-hour service for emergencies, adding that the facility operates "with a significant amount of oversight and accountability."
Detention centers are a good business model for private prison companies
Ensuring detainees receive the appropriate care at detention centers has been a key concern for advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as more than 90% of all people under ICE detention are held in private facilities.
But despite multiple reports of malpractices and abuses in such private prisons, the U.S. government has not done enough to eradicate the problem.
In January of 2021, President Biden issued an executive order directing the Department of Justice to phase out its contracts with private prison companies, but it notably excluded ICE detention. Since then, the number of immigrants detained by ICE, as well as revenues for private prison companies, have only increased.
In 2022, CoreCivic made $552.2 million in revenue from ICE detention contracts, representing 30% of its total revenue. Despite calls from activists and advocates to decrease funding for ICE detention, Congress approved a budget of $2.9 billion dollars to hold 34,000 people in ICE detention each day for Fiscal Year 2023.
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