Six people at a remote Ice facility in California City describe medical problems and filthy conditions, which operator CoreCivic denies

Six people at a remote ICE facility in California City describe medical problems and filthy conditions, which operator CoreCivic denies

Immigrants locked up in California’s newest federal detention center have described the facility as a “a torture chamber”, “a zoo” and “hell on earth”, saying they were confined in filthy cells and suffered medical crises without help.

Six people detained at the California City detention center, which opened in late August and is now the state’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center, shared accounts with the Guardian of poor conditions and alleged mistreatment by staff.

The detention center is located in a desert region 100 miles (160km) north-east of Los Angeles, on the grounds of a state prison that closed in March 2024. CoreCivic, the private prison corporation, re-opened the facility as an Ice detention center as the Trump administration has pushed to rapidly expand immigration detention capacity. Advocates argued the process was rushed, and city officials said CoreCivic is operating the facility

  • ExtremeDullard@piefed.socialEnglish
    68·
    12 days ago

    Do we call this Nazi concentration camps yet, or is this still a “slippery slope” and is Trump still cutely “flirting with authoritarianism”?

    • merdaverse@lemmy.zip
      46·
      12 days ago

      It is, by definition, a concentration camp. Rather than Nazi, I would call it christofascist

      • Doug Holland@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        12 days ago

        Absolutely, says Merriam-Webster:

        concentration camp
        noun
        : a place where large numbers of people (such as prisoners of war, political prisoners, refugees, or the members of an ethnic or religious minority) are detained or confined under armed guard
        used especially in reference to camps created by the Nazis in World War II for the internment and persecution of Jews and other prisoners

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    25·
    12 days ago

    “This place is built to break us,” said Sokhean Keo, a California City detainee who is facing deportation to Cambodia and refused to eat for several days last week to protest conditions. “There is nothing but harassment and torture here. It’s inhumane, unsanitary and a health hazard every single day … Please, please help us, please.”

    In interviews over the last two weeks, California City detainees have claimed:

    • staff were not consistently giving people daily medications, and some detainees fell unconscious due to health issues;

    • some toilets and sinks were backed up or not functioning properly, creating a stench;

    • detainees were left to clean their own cells, but not given proper supplies;

    • detainees were confined to cells for hours, and when they were allowed outdoors, it was sometimes only for 30 minutes a day in a dusty area with nothing to do;

    • small food portions left people hungry, with some saying they rationed meals and feared the water they were drinking was dirty.