Thread by @ImmCivilRights

Thread:
15 months ago this week, Jean Jimenez, a 27 Year-Old DREAMer with diagnosed schizophrenia and a prior history of suicide attempts, ended his life after spending 19 days in solitary confinement at ICE's for-profit Stewart immigration prison. 15 more have died since. Why?

2/ Through #FOIA litigation, courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…, Jean's family learned much more last week about how ICE responds to medical neglect of people in its custody -- especially people who die as a result. Here are two pages from the key document.

3/ Days before Jean got to Stewart, ICE and CoreCivic officials told @DHSOIG the dangerously low staffing levels there were a "ticking bomb." revealnews.org/blog/staff-des… The full docs are available here: wabe.org/wp-content/upl… ICE medical officials concurred: govtribe.com/project/ihsc-m…

4/ 14 months after Jean died, 14 deaths later, Efrain Romero de la Rosa succumbed to 21 days of solitary confinement at Stewart. Like Jean, Efrain was diagnosed with schizophrenia and had previously been institutionalized multiple times for MH issues. theintercept.com/2018/07/27/imm…

5/ ICE officials in the Atlanta Field Office have made a choice to imprison for profit and deport as many people as possible, even if it means human beings die and families lose loved ones forever. To pursue that goal, they’ve withheld records from investigators and the public.

6/ We believe that should stop now. We want answers1) What was the staffing level at Stewart when Efrain died, and did it comply with the staffing plan? 2) Why are people with diagnosed MH issues being held in prolonged solitary confinement? 3) Where’s the detainee death report?

7/ We call on legislators to ask ICE DHS questions needed to halt this alarming trend of deaths in detention. hrw.org/news/2018/06/2…

How many more ICE prisons are chronically understaffed, and why?

DHS has the largest fed. law enforcement budget. This isn’t a resource issue.

8/ To hear Jean’s voice and understand his experience in his own words, check out last week’s @reveal podcast with @ellywyu, beginning at 31:00 revealnews.org/episodes/trapp…

9/ More on Jean’s experiences here from @capitalandmain @robinurevich
capitalandmain.com/self-portrait-…

Update: For those wondering, “Why was Jean in solitary confinement in the first place?” Here is the official disciplinary report ICE officials reviewed and approved. It notes “Detainee states he was trying to hurt himself when he jumped to the bottom tier.” Punished w the hole.

Update2: ICE Medical officials fail to explain in their post-death summary why, after telling them he was trying to hurt himself, he was cleared for solitary confinement on April 27. Again, Jean had a documented history of suicide attempts & hospitalizations in prior facilities