There is No Safety Here: The Dangers for People with Mental Illness and Other Disabilities in Immigration Detention at GEO Group’s Adelanto ICE Processing Center

One of the largest immigrant detention facilities in the country (and the largest in the State of California) is the Adelanto detention facility in the City of Adelanto in San Bernandino County. Operated by the GEO Group, a private contractor, the facility houses an average detainee population of almost 2,000.  Since the Trump administration ended prosecutorial discretion and ramped-up immigration enforcement, the number of detainees with disabilities or mental illness in federal detention facilities has risen, raising questions as to whether these facilities are following federal guidelines in treating this population. Media reports and the government’s own internal investigative reports suggest widespread abuse of detainees with disabilities. This situation prompted Disability Rights California (DRC), the state designated protection and advocacy organization for people with disabilities, to undertake an investigation of conditions at the Adelanto facility. DRC conducted four site visits to Adelanto and interviewed over 100 detainees as part of its investigation. They concluded that people held at Adelanto are subject to punitive, prison-like conditions that harm people with disabilities. Moreover, Adelanto has an inadequate mental health care medical health care system, made worse by the facility’s harsh and counter-therapeutic practices. The investigators also found that the GEO group significantly underreported data on the number of suicide attempts at the facility. The investigators found that Adelanto’s system fails to comply with disability antidiscrimination laws, as well as with ICE’s own detention standards regarding the treatment of people with disabilities. (American Immigrant Policy Portal)

Download now or view online.