U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is failing to provide adequate healthcare at a new detention center in California City, according to a report from an independent monitor at the facility, where detainees complained of missing medications and months-long delays to cancer treatment.
The findings appear in a report by Dr. Muthusamy Anandkumar, a court-appointed monitor of the California City Immigration Processing Center, which is about 75 miles east of Bakersfield and run by the private prison company CoreCivic. The federal government earlier this month but CoreCivic continues to operate it.
A judge in March as part of an filed by seven detainees who allege the conditions in the California City facility are a violation of their due process rights.
鈥淭he facility lacks a reliable system to consistently provide adequate health care, placing individuals at serious risk of both immediate and long-term harm,鈥� Anandkumar wrote. 鈥淭his pattern indicates broader problems in the facility鈥檚 healthcare delivery system rather than occasional lapses in care.鈥�
The fault, Anandkumar wrote, was not with the individual healthcare workers, but rather an issue of staffing, management and oversight. At times, staff was pulled out of training to cover a shift because of staffing shortages.
鈥淎s a result, staff who had not been fully trained were themselves training new staff,鈥� Anandkumar wrote. 鈥淕iven the number of patients and the seriousness of their medical and mental health needs, these substantial gaps contribute to an unsafe environment.鈥�
Anandkumar found 13 areas of deficiency in CoreCivic鈥檚 healthcare program in California City. Among them were inadequate emergency care, dental care and chronic disease management. The monitor also found that the facility did not provide timely access to prescribed medications.
ICE opened the immigration detention center at the site of a closed state prison and began admitting detainees in August. In September, a state disability rights group conducted a of the facility and found that its operators failed to distribute medication for life-threatening conditions and did not schedule timely surgeries for people that needed them.
The findings of that two-day inspection by Disability Rights California mirror many of the conclusions found 10 months later by Anandkumar, including delays in response to acute sick call requests and a failure to distribute prescription medication for conditions requiring consistent management like diabetes, high blood pressure and seizures.
A CoreCivic spokesperson said the facility provides daily access to physical and mental care services, and said emergency medical services are available 24 hours a day, every day.
鈥淲hen specialty or advanced care is required beyond the services available onsite, facility healthcare staff coordinate with community physicians, hospitals, and specialty providers to facilitate access to medically necessary treatment,鈥� said CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin. 鈥淲hile we work diligently to arrange and support those appointments, the scheduling, availability, and capacity of outside providers are not controlled by the facility.鈥�
Gustin said compliance with detention standards in immigration detention facilities is monitored by an ICE compliance officer.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. federal court in the Northern District of California by people held in California City claims detainees do not have appropriate clothing for the chilly desert nights, nor appropriate medical attention for life-threatening conditions. The lawsuit alleges detainees with mobility issues don鈥檛 have access to wheelchairs, and in some cases are unable to bathe or dress themselves.
Sokhean Keo, a California City detainee and a plaintiff in the lawsuit against ICE said in a statement distributed by the ACLU that he never received the medication he was prescribed for an infection.
鈥淚f there is no change to this system,鈥� Keo said, 鈥渟ick people are going to die.鈥�
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