(Image Credit: IMAGN) A prisoner looks out of his cell at the Franklin County Jail in downtown Columbus on Friday, February 17, 2017
California City, California – From the outside, the new ICE detention center in California City looks like another high-security facility dropped into the Mojave desert—rows of low-slung buildings ringed by fencing and floodlights. Inside, according to people locked up there, it feels more like a place designed to break them.
Six detainees who spoke with the Guardian over the last two weeks described the state’s newest and largest ICE facility as “a torture chamber,” “a zoo” and “hell on earth.” They said they are confined to filthy cells, denied consistent medical care, and threatened with solitary confinement or physical force for minor infractions or for speaking out. “This place is built to break us,” said Sokhean Keo, a Cambodian man facing deportation who staged a short hunger strike in protest. “Please, please help us, please.”
The California City detention center sits 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles on the grounds of a state prison shuttered earlier this year. CoreCivic, the private prison operator, reopened it under a $13.5 million agreement with ICE as part of the Trump administration’s rapid expansion of immigration detention capacity. Advocates and local officials say the process was rushed and point out that CoreCivic still lacks the proper city permits and licenses.
For those held inside, the abrupt opening has meant chaos. Alfredo Parada Calderon, who has been in ICE custody nearly two years, said he arrived at California City to find officers “weren’t ready for the population to come in.” He got a single set of socks and underwear that he washed in his sink for a week. A small soap bar was supposed to last seven days. His cell was freezing cold, with lights on 24/7. “Would you let your own family live in these conditions?” he asked.
Others described toilets and sinks that were backed up, cloudy water from the taps, and food portions so small they rationed meals or saved bread for later. “Even when I save all three meals to eat at once, it barely fills one plate,” said one detainee who asked to be identified only as Fernando.
Medical care is the most urgent concern. Keo said he has seen two people collapse and require emergency help. Fernando said he’s waited weeks to see a doctor about thyroid issues. Another asylum seeker said he can barely walk while waiting for surgery but was repeatedly denied a wheelchair. “They’re just going to let me die in here,” he said.
CoreCivic disputes the allegations. Spokesperson Brian Todd said the facility provides 24/7 health care, clean clothing, toiletries, and safe drinking water. He confirmed a suicide attempt on Sept. 9 but said the detainee was hospitalized and is receiving care. Todd added that staff receive six weeks of training and that federal officials monitor the facility daily “to ensure an appropriate standard of living and care.”
But immigrant-rights advocates say what detainees are describing is part of a larger pattern. The California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice says more than 100 people at California City have staged sit-ins and hunger strikes over the past month, prompting lockdowns, restricted phone access, and threats of force. Some detainees, exhausted and frightened, told advocates they are considering giving up their immigration cases and accepting deportation.
