Disability Rights Center Report: 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

An investigation by Disability Rights California (DRC) finds conditions at Adelanto Detention Center, one of the largest privately operated immigration detention facilities in the United States, pose serious risks to people with mental illness and other disabilities. The findings are contained in a report released today, “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.” The report follows an in-depth yearlong investigation.

The DRC report provides our findings and recommendations for reform. The report looks at several aspects of the Adelanto ICE Processing Center’s system, and how it impacts people with mental health and medical care needs, and with a range of disabilities. It finds:

1. People held at Adelanto are subjected to punitive, prison-like conditions that harm people with disabilities.
2. Adelanto has an inadequate mental health care and medical care system, made worse by the facility’s harsh and counter-therapeutic practices.
3. The GEO Group significantly underreports data on the number of suicide attempts that occur at Adelanto, which undermines transparency and public oversight of the facility.
4. 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.

KJ