Detainees say care worsened
People held at Otay Mesa say their medical treatment has fallen since private f irm took over health services.
SAN DIEGO — After spending the first part of the pandemic in the spotlight for a large COVID- 19 outbreak at Otay Mesa Detention Center, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has contracted out medical care at the facility to the private prison company that owns and operates it.
Detainees interviewed by the San Diego Union- Tribune say the medical care, which they and their advocates already had criticized, has grown even worse under the private operator CoreCivic than it was under ICE.
Detainees complain of missed and late medications, multiple- day waits for medical attention and a lack of transfer of records that left staff in the dark about what treatment individual detainees were supposed to be receiving. It has also meant that those who had been approved for specialty care, such as oncology and orthopedics, would have to begin the process anew.
“The first couple of days, it was chaos,” said Guillermo Alvarez Mendoza, a detainee with diabetes, hypertension and chronic back pain. “If you were getting your blood sugar checked two or three times a day, it was midnight before they came for the first bloodsugar check.”
Both CoreCivic and ICE denied the detainees’ allegations. “Our clinic is staffed with licensed, credentialed doctors, nurses and mental health professionals who contractually meet the highest standards of care,” said Amanda Gilchrist, spokeswoman for CoreCivic.
She said detainees with chronic health conditions are regularly monitored and that all of them are able to sign up for sick call daily.
Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE, called the transition “seamless.”
“The health, safety and welfare of those in our care remain a top priority and concern for the agency, regardless of the medical service provider,” Mack said.
The Otay Mesa facility still has a reduced number of ICE detainees because of the pandemic — currently about 330, the agency said.
CoreCivic proposed the switch in the second quarter of 2020, Gilchrist said, and ICE agreed to it. It was not immediately clear how much ICE is paying CoreCivic for the services, which they took over Sept. 10 after a 90- day transition period.
The official emphasized that with CoreCivic running the medical unit, detainees will receive the same level and standard of care.
CoreCivic received medical summaries from ICE and has a way to request additional records on an asneeded basis, Gilchrist said.
But detainees tell a different story.
“They didn’t know none of our doses, none of our medications, what we actually needed, what was prescribed to us,” Alvarez Mendoza said. “They would ask us, ‘ What are you supposed to take right now?’ ”
After several days of not receiving any of the medications he was supposed to get, Alvarez Mendoza said, medical staff showed up with some of them. Others, particularly his prescribed pain meds, were missing. In protest, he refused to take what had been brought.
Jose Antonio Espinoza said that it took f ive days to be seen after he signed up for sick call because he had pus coming out of his ear.
Jose Manzo Alvarez said he stopped receiving his blood- pressure medication after the transition. Staff told him they had ordered more by mail but that it hadn’t arrived yet, he said.
“I’m a very patient person, but I figured it’s time to let somebody know,” Manzo Alvarez said.
ICE said it could not comment on individual allegations without having identif ication numbers for each detainee. CoreCivic deferred to ICE on individual cases.