‘ICE’ SCREAMS
Hunger strikes, infection fears roil jails
An immigrant fighting deportation described haphazard efforts to prevent a coronavirus outbreak in an ICE jail in New Jersey as staff at nearby facilities tested positive and detainees launched hunger strikes.
The 31-year-old living in Brooklyn, who asked to be only identified as Nick because of his pending immigration case, said he was isolated from other detainees at the Hudson County Correctional Facility without explanation at 6 a.m. on Monday. He was locked up by himself in a cell, tested for coronavirus but given no explanation why he was at risk. Meanwhile, he noticed nurses frequently coughing while coming and going from general population, he said.
“Why am I here? I can see the nurses coughing. Why are you testing me and not testing them?” Nick recalled asking jail staff, who did not respond.
He had to plead for soap and toilet paper.
A spokesman for Hudson County said soap is available for all inmates, cells are frequently cleaned and notices are posted about social distancing.
On Wednesday, he was removed from the cell and returned to general population, though once again without explanation. An inmate told Nick the coronavirus scare was due to an attorney who had tested positive.
The Hudson County spokesman confirmed that two Legal Aid Society attorneys had reported symptoms of coronavirus, prompting tests of some detainees. Legal Aid failed to mention their own staff was likely the reason Nick was tested.
“That was horrible. I don’t think there was any kind of effort — I feel like it was negligent. I feel like they have enough resources to do much better work and be cautious about an outbreak,” said Nick, who is from a country in South America. “I don’t think they did the necessary steps to control or prevent anyone from spreading the virus or be exposed to the virus. It’s very sad. As an inmate you don’t have any control over that.”
In general population, detainees mingled in a dirty common area watching television without any social distancing, Nick added. Inmates mopped the floors on their own in an attempt to keep the space sanitary, he said.
Nick was released on bond Thursday for reasons unrelated to the pandemic. On Friday, a coalition of public defenders that represent immigrants facing deportation announced detainees at Hudson Correctional had organized a brief hunger strike protesting ICE’s failure to adequately combat the virus. Detainees at Essex County Correctional Facility launched their own hunger strike over the same problems on Tuesday, according to the coalition dubbed the New York Family Immigrant Unity Project.
No cases coronavirus cases have been confirmed at either facility.
Meanwhile, officials at other jails holding ICE detainees in Bergen County and Elizabeth tested positive. The Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail, announced that a correction officer had coronavirus and would self-quarantine for 14 days. Seven other corrections officers were asked to isolate themselves.
“Medical staff at the Bergen County Jail are closely monitoring inmates who may have been in contact,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a release.
A medical staffer at an ICE facility in Elizabeth, N.J. had also tested positive, ICE confirmed.
ICE announced it would suspend most immigration enforcement during the pandemic and focus on criminals or others who present a public safety threat.