TACOMA — A 61-year-old man was found dead Thursday morning in his cell at the privately-run federal immigration detention center in Tacoma, according to police. Local immigration activists say he was being held in solitary confinement.
Few details about the man or the circumstances of his death were available Friday morning. A Tacoma Police Department spokesperson said there didn’t appear to be any foul play but that the Pierce County medical examiner would determine the cause and manner of death. Detective William Muse said the investigation was handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The detainee was checked on at about 10:43 a.m. Thursday by staff at the Northwest ICE Processing Center, Muse said, and his body was reportedly partially off his bed with his head toward the ground. Staff dragged him into a hallway to perform medical aid, but he was unresponsive.
Tacoma Fire Department personnel were called to the scene. Muse said they continued resuscitation efforts, but the man was declared dead at 11:35 a.m. A Tacoma police officer was dispatched to the detention center 10 minutes later.
“Just preliminarily it doesn’t look like violence. It doesn’t look like drugs were involved. It doesn’t look like, you know, he wasn’t attended to or anything else like that,” Muse said. “He was just found unresponsive.”
Representatives from ICE did not immediately respond to requests for more information. The GEO Group, the contractor that runs the facility on the Tacoma Tideflats, did not answer emailed questions and referred The News Tribune to ICE.
ICE has not confirmed whether the man was held in a segregation cell or for how long he may have been held there. The disciplinary policy the detention center adheres to states that incidents that could lead to disciplinary segregation are adjudicated by a disciplinary panel.
A detainee can generally be held in such confinement for up to 30 days, but researchers who call the practice solitary confinement have found the average length of a stay to be 55 days, with some instances of detainees being held in solitary for over a year.
Maru Mora Villalpando is an organizer with La Resistencia, a group that advocates for the closing of the facility and an end to deportations. Mora Villalpando said she spoke over the phone Thursday with a detainee who recently has been held in a segregation cell next to the cell where the deceased man was found.
The two detainees met when staff brought them in pairs to shower, according to Mora Villalpando, and the deceased was described as a quiet person who had been receiving a vegetarian diet. Mora Villalpando said La Resistencia is working to learn the man’s name and nationality. She said they want to know if his family has been informed and to ensure that any burial arrangements are in line with the person’s religious beliefs.
When a detainee dies in ICE custody, it’s the agency’s protocol to notify next of kin, the appropriate consulate, U.S. Congress, the public and relevant stakeholders in the Department of Homeland Security and in ICE. According to the agency’s website, medical reviews are conducted, followed by an examination of the circumstances of the person’s death. The results of the review are sent to ICE senior management, the DHS and the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
La Resistencia was organizing a vigil at the detention center Friday at noon. In a news release, the group said it wanted to hold the GEO Group and ICE accountable for the death, and that the group demands an immediate public response from the Washington state’s Congressional delegation. It also called for an independent investigation and a congressional hearing on conditions at the detention center.
Two other deaths have been reported at the facility since it opened in 2004, according to ICE records. In 2006, a 42-year-old man died of coronary artery disease. In 2018, a 40-year-old man held in solitary confinement died by suicide.
