The man who died Sunday at the immigrant detention center in Tacoma was a Mexican citizen who was experiencing fentanyl withdrawal, according to a 911 call.
A nurse said in a Sunday 911 call that the man, who had been at the Northwest ICE Processing Center since the preceding Tuesday, was being held in a medical unit and had been found face down in his room, breathing but unresponsive. He had vomited, according to a recording of the call, obtained by the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights and provided to The Seattle Times. It was the only 911 call from the facility made that day, according to Angelina Snodgrass Godoy, the human rights center’s director.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement identified the man as Jose Manuel Sanchez-Castro, a 36-year-old Mexican citizen.
Immigrant advocates including Godoy and the group La Resistencia said the facility might have violated standards for medical care governing such facilities it had not sought emergency care for Sanchez-Castro before the 911 call. “Detainees experiencing severe, life-threatening intoxication or withdrawal symptoms shall be transferred immediately for either on-site or off-site emergency department evaluation,” according to an ICE manual.
Godoy, who noted fentanyl withdrawal is extremely painful, also questioned whether the privately run detention center has access to medications used to treat opioid addiction, like methadone and buprenorphine. Given the prevalence of addiction to fentanyl and other opioids, many prisons and jails have such medication.
Dr. Marc Stern, a former top doctor for Washington’s prison system who is an adviser to jails using opioid-treatment medications, said proper use of such drugs usually prevents death related to withdrawal. The right doses need to be used, and patients should be closely monitored to make sure they’re not dehydrating, he said.
That’s the main risk of withdrawal, due to vomiting, diarrhea and nausea that limit fluid intake, which can prove fatal. Managing opioid medication can be tricky, Stern continued, and if it looks like a patient is in danger, “then it’s time to send them to the hospital,” Stern said.
Neither ICE nor the GEO Group, which runs the facility, answered specific questions about the Tacoma facility’s treatment of opioid addiction and whether Sanchez-Castro’s care violated ICE’s medical standards.
In a statement, ICE said it “remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments. Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay.”
ICE also said an autopsy is pending. Such cases are typically handled by the Pierce County Medical Examiner.
ICE first arrested Sanchez-Castro in August 2009, the ICE statement said. He had encounters with authorities eight times since then, most recently in July, and had left and reentered the U.S. unlawfully more than once, according to the federal agency.
He also had been convicted in federal and Washington courts on charges related to drugs and illegal reentry, according to ICE and court records.
Sanchez-Castro’s death was the second this year at the detention center, which imprisons people the government accuses of living in the U.S. illegally and seeks to deport.
Charles Leo Daniel, 61, died at the facility in March from natural causes, according to the county medical examiner’s office. He was held in solitary confinement for almost the entire four years he was detained — a fact that drew sharp criticism from some elected officials and immigrant advocates who have long accused the detention center of poorly treating those it incarcerates.
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Seattle Democrat, referred to Daniel’s death and a 2018 suicide in a statement expressing concern about conditions at the Tacoma center and calling for a full investigation into Sunday’s death.
