After the recent deaths of two detainees in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Civil organizations in Georgia have demanded the immediate closure of all the state’s migrant detention centers, on Thursday.
The recent deaths of Jean Carlos Jimenez-Joseph and also Atul Kumar Babubhai Patel are an unfortunate illustration of the poor medical treatment, excessive use of the solitary confinement, the deplorable health conditions and also unnecessary detention of the people seeking refuge, said the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) chief Adelina Nicholls, on Thursday.
In the last week, ICE officials have reported the death of 27-year-old Panamanian Jimenez-Joseph, who was found dead in his cell at the Stewart Detention Center, a for-profit prison which is operated by the CoreCivic, after he presumably committing suicide.
Stewart is about 160 kilometers (100 miles) to the south of Atlanta and the detention center at there is the second-largest in the United States.
Just a day later, the ICE officials announced the death of an 58-year-old Indian citizen, Atul Kumar Babubhai Patel, who died on Tuesday afternoon at the Grady Hospital, where he had been admitted after having breathing problems while the authorities were making a routine inspection at the Atlanta Detention Center (ACDC) on last Saturday.
The civil organizations also demanded that Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, the Stewart and also Irwin County commissioners to close the ACDC, as well as they also demanded the Stewart and Irwin County detention centers to prevent more deaths of detainees.
Besides the GLAHR, other organizations were also joining the protest, like the Georgia Detention Watch, Black Alliance for Just Immigration and also the Project South.
A report released by the Project South and also the Penn State Law Center for Immigrant Rights Clinic in this month has documented the “deplorable” conditions experienced by many immigrants at the Stewart and also Irwin detention centers.
According to the investigation, neither center is “equipped” to be able to deal with the physical and mental needs of detainees.
Azadeh Shahshahani, the Project South attorney said that as per their investigation showed, the Georgia detention centers are plagued by the human rights abuses, which include extensive use of the solitary confinement, minimal access to the mental health treatment and also inedible food.
The installations should be closed in order to prevent more number tragedies, said the lawyer.
With the recent two deaths, a total of eight detainees have died till now while in the custody of ICE since the start of the fiscal year 2017.
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