Mastodawn

#ICE detainees are dying by #suicide at an 'alarming' rate, AP investigation finds

Brayan Rayo Garzon was distraught. Detained by ICE, he was on his fourth day of #isolation in a Missouri jail as he battled the fevers & chills of #COVID-19.

His request for #MentalHealth treatment had been put off, records show, & staff had forbidden Rayo from making his nightly call to his mother as a precaution intended to prevent the spread of illness.

#law #HumanRights #PublicHealth
https://apnews.com/article/ice-suicide-deaths-detention-custody-d902169055292dfd27f5079e609e86ad

ICE detainees dying by suicide at 'alarming' rate, AP investigation finds

Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees are taking their own lives at a pace that’s unprecedented in the agency’s two-decade history, highlighting what experts call failures in care and oversight. An Associated Press investigation finds that at least 10 ICE detainees have died by suicide since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025 and ordered ICE to increase arrests and deportations. That includes seven deaths since October, already the most in one fiscal year with several months remaining. The increased pace of suicides exceeds the growth in ICE’s detainee population. The deaths happened at detention facilities operated by private contractors and local jails run by sheriffs. All were men, and most were Hispanic.

AP News

He pleaded with his jailers in handwritten notes to arrange a conversation with her. “I feel in my heart that she’s very worried about me,” he wrote in Spanish.

A guard collected the note & walked away. Within an hour, #jail records show, he was found unconscious in his cell. An autopsy determined he killed himself.

#law #Trump #immigration #ICE #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #HumanitarianLaw #PublicHealth #abuse #isolation #suicide #MentalHealth

Rayo’s April 2025 death was the first suicide in a spike among #ICE detainees that has alarmed #PublicHealth officials & #jail experts. They said the unprecedented number of #suicide deaths is an indication that authorities are failing to properly oversee the detention of tens of thousands of #immigrants swept up in the #Trump admin’s aggressive #deportation strategy.

#law #immigration #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #HumanitarianLaw #abuse #isolation #MentalHealth

An AP investigation found that at least 10 detainees, all men, have died by #suicide since #Trump took office in Jan 2025, a pace that FAR EXCEEDS the growth in the detainee population, acc/to a review of #ICE data, autopsy reports, coroners’ rulings & police records. Since October, 7 deaths have been ruled suicides, a number that is already the most for ANY fiscal year in the agency’s history. ICE has usually recorded 1 or NO such deaths annually.

#law #immigration #PublicHealth #MentalHealth

“Something is going profoundly wrong from any kind of #PublicHealth or #MentalHealth perspective,” said Dr. Sanjay Basu, a University of California-San Francisco epidemiologist who cowrote a study documenting the increase in mortality & #suicide rates among #ICE detainees. “This is one of those alarming, sudden increases.”

#law #Trump #immigration #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #HumanitarianLaw #abuse #isolation

9 of the deaths were of Hispanic men who had arrived in the US from 4 countries, the AP found. One man was a Chinese citizen. Their average age was 32. While #Trump has characterized those facing deportation as the “worst of the worst,” 7 of the 10 had NO record of violent crimes in the US.

#law #immigration #ICE #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #HumanitarianLaw #PublicHealth #abuse #isolation #suicide #MentalHealth

The suicides account for nearly a fifth of the 51 deaths in #ICE custody since Jan 2025. The majority of those deaths were from “natural causes” & experts say many of them would have been preventable with timely #medical care.

#law #Trump #immigration #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #HumanitarianLaw #PublicHealth #abuse #isolation #suicide #MentalHealth

The reasons behind any #suicide are complex, & each death often has multiple contributing factors, acc/to experts. #ICE detainees report intense stress after being detained, fear of being returned to countries where their safety may be jeopardized, & frustration & loneliness over the inability to communicate due to language barriers.

#law #Trump #immigration #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #HumanitarianLaw #PublicHealth #abuse #isolation #MentalHealth

Detainees can also feel helplessness because of the complexity surrounding #immigration #law. Unlike those in the criminal justice system, most detainees do NOT have lawyers & their detention on immigration violations is [supposedly] not meant to be punitive [under other admins].

#Trump #ICE #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #HumanitarianLaw #PublicHealth #suicide #MentalHealth

#ICE becomes responsible for their well-being when they enter #detention, & experts say well-run lockups should have few, if any, suicides. That’s because staff can take steps to mitigate the chances that detainees harm themselves by identifying those at risk, getting them #care & monitoring them closely, experts said.

AP’s investigation found that ICE detention centers have repeatedly fallen short in ways that violate ICE’s own standards.

#law #Trump #immigration #suicide #MentalHealth

An examination of the 10 #suicide deaths found the men died across ICE’s #detention network, including at centers long run by private contractors & county jails that recently became #ICE partners. The AP found that staff in the facilities IGNORED signs of distress, DELAYED #MentalHealth #treatment & FAILED to monitor detainees who were deemed at risk. They also permitted detainees to access materials that could be used for self-harm, acc/to a review of ICE inspection reports & death records.

In some cases, they jailed distressed detainees in #isolation, which can exacerbate feelings of #humiliation & #helplessness, acc/to experts.

#ICE has repeatedly asserted that it screens detainees within 12 hours of arrival for medical, dental & #MentalHealth conditions.

At least 3 of the 9 facilities where ICE detainees died by #suicide have struggled to meet that standard, acc/to ICE inspection reports & jail records.

#law #Trump #immigration #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #HumanRights #PublicHealth

Dr. Homer Venters, fmr chief medical officer of NYC jails who previously consulted with #ICE on preventing detainee deaths, called the rise in suicides terrifying.

It “reflects failures in how the system’s being operated, & particularly failures in how the first stages of coming into #detention are happening so that people aren’t being assessed adequately, &then if that…screening picks up red flags, they’re not acted on in a way that reduces the risk of them having preventable death.”

@Nonilex Having a convicted felon as president who sends you as an innocent to jail for detention - if this doesn't drive people crazy, I don't know.

Kinene⭐🐻2d ago

@Nonilex ICE saves money if the detainees kill themselves -no need to fly them out of the country. It probably makes their little fascist hearts happy.

fan boy 🪭2d ago

@Nonilex
Too bad the doctor didn't suggest not putting people in jail who have committed no crimes, as a way of addressing this issue.

Chris Smart 2d ago

@Nonilex Method?

CrazyDogLadySezPEACE 2d ago

@Nonilex Suicide while in custody is state-sponsored murder. Every single case should be prosecuted against the management as manslaughter *at the very least*.

Pooblemoo 2d ago

@Nonilex "suicide" ? It's probably something else. The families should all demand autopsies.

The Cheekqualizer 2d ago

@Nonilex what exactly is a non-alarming rate 🤔

Eric Lawton 2d ago

American Gulag Archipelago.

Did they die of suicide or was it “suicide”?

Like Renee Good or Alex Pretti…

Yet another Josh

Is it suicide or "suicide" as declared by the coroner to bypass murder charges?

Ibor the video gorilla 2d ago

@Nonilex which is what ICE wants.

@Nonilex I read that the guards are taking bets on who will kill themselves next. These people are monsters

Where do they live? What do their cars look like? Just wondering, not trying to incite any #StreetJustice. That would be illegal. Never do anything illegal. You might get in trouble, especially if you're stupid enough to do it in front of a camera.

❤️ It's Gonna Be Maystodon 💚2d ago

@Nonilex """"""""""suicide"""""""""""