Detention jail bars

Florida migrant detention center subject of federal complaint – ABC News

By Armando Garcia

“A former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee in Florida said a group of officers threatened to take him to solitary confinement, then assaulted him, according to a federal complaint filed by several immigration groups.

The allegation is part of a 102-page complaint against the Baker County Detention Center in Macclenny by a group of 15 current and former immigration detainees who allege a ‘pattern of abuse.’

The complaint includes allegations that the guards threatened detainees with solitary confinement and retaliated against them when they filed internal complaints. One petition signed by 130 immigrants at the facility accuses officers of putting detainees in cells without cameras so they can mistreat them.

Other allegations describe unsanitary conditions caused by inadequate clothing, underwear, bedding, and toilets. One incident described in the complaint alleges that five detainees were placed in a holding cell with ‘one toilet with no privacy, no sink for hand washing, no soap, no toilet paper, and no ability to social distance at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.'”

Read the full article at ABC News.