Photos Suggest ICE Contractor Uses Solitary Confinement: Report

Photos obtained by The Intercept suggest private prison company and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement contractor CoreCivic uses solitary confinement at detention centers. CoreCivic has repeatedly denied it uses solitary confinement—which is considered by some to be a “form of torture"— claiming it uses “restrictive housing” instead. The Intercept was able to obtain photos of the cell at a CoreCivic ICE detention center where ICE detainee Jean Jimenez-Joseph hung himself in May 2017. The “tiny” cell had “bare concrete walls” and a “heavy metal door with two grates and an armored slot for providing confined detainees with their meals to eat alone.” It was later revealed that Jimenez-Joseph was locked in there alone for 19 days prior to his death. The site also spoke with a current ICE detainee, Shoaib Ahmed, who claimed that he was placed in solitary confinement for 10 days in a CoreCivic facility in rural Georgia. An ICE spokeswoman told the Intercept that, “The use of restrictive housing in ICE detention facilities is exceedingly rare, but at times necessary, to ensure the safety of staff and individuals in a facility...[ICE] is firmly committed to the safety and welfare of all those in its custody.”