Have you worked as an employee or a volunteer at the CoreCivic ICE San Diego center or other California CoreCivic detention center? Have you witnessed forced labor practices at one of these facilities? You may be able to come forward with what you have seen and participate in an immigration detainee labor lawsuit investigation.

CoreCivic is a for-profit prison program that also runs immigration detention centers like the CoreCivic ICE San Diego center. These centers are used to detain immigrants on behalf of ICE and, according to a growing number of reports, CoreCivic detention centers may force their detainees to work for as little as $1 a day, though CoreCivic itself reported $1.85 billion in total revenue in 2016.

Volunteers Might Be Being Silenced

Volunteers who have witnessed these alleged forced labor practices may be being actively suppressed by immigration officials. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, immigration officials cut off one volunteer group’s access to the facility entirely—unless its members agreed to sign a so-called “Volunteer Code of Ethics” form meant to keep them from talking to the press, watchdog organizations, or other groups about the conditions inside the CoreCivic ICE San Diego center. So far, the volunteer group—SOLACE, or Souls Offering Loving and Compassionate Ears—has refused to sign the form.

SOLACE’s goal is to offer comfort and a sense of humanity to detainees, but the volunteers worry if they signed the “Code of Ethics” form, they wouldn’t be able to speak up about any problems they might witness while there, such as if a detainee told them about abuse at the facility.

And there are a growing number of reports of terrible conditions at the San Diego facility, also known as the Otay Mesa Detention Center.

In a letter written in December 2018, more than 70 detainees alleged a series of major issues of neglect and abuse, including medical neglect, racism, safety issues, and discrimination. The letter noted that while the detainees had tried to issue complaints within the facility, they were not being heard.

“I was the object of indifference and medical negligence,” wrote one of the men, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I’m experiencing very bad pain in my left ear and I don’t feel OK because of the deficient attention.” Others reported racial slurs and other discrimination.

While the official stance of the CoreCivic ICE San Diego center itself is that the facility is a safe environment for detainees, Detainees Allies reports receiving dozens of letters describing medical neglect, contaminated or insufficient food, unsafe working conditions, forced labor and wage theft, and the denial of access to mail and phone calls.

California CoreCivic facilities include the following:

• California City Correctional Facility (California City, CA)
• Otay Mesa Detention Center (San Diego, CA)
• San Diego Correctional Facility (San Diego, CA)

Join a CoreCivic Detention Centers Immigration Detainee Labor Lawsuit Investigation

If you have worked as an employee or a volunteer at a CoreCivic detention center in California, such as the CoreCivic ICE San Diego center, you may be able to join this labor lawsuit investigation.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.