WASHINGTON – Leaders of four of the largest private prison companies that run immigration detention centers promised members of Congress Monday that all their employees should wear face masks and stay home from work if they are sick, such as the number of COVID-19 cases among recently detained immigrants crossed 3,000.
Executives from CoreCivic, the Geo Group Corporation, Management and Training Corporation (MTC) and LaSalle Corrections responded to the allegations that they were not doing enough to stop the spread of the virus at their contract facilities for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. .
Before the hearing, two whistleblowers from the Richwood Correctional Center, a LaSalle correctional center in Richwood, Louisiana, submitted a letter to the House Security Committee of the House of Representatives alleging that the center’s management had not done enough to protect the personal or virus detainees. Complainants are represented by attorneys from the Government Accountability Project, a national whistleblower protection organization.
The two whistleblowers, who work or have worked within the LaSalle facility in Richwood, said staff were discouraged from wearing masks in April, even after the first detainee tested positive for COVID-19.
One of the whistleblowers said the Richwood director told staff not to wear masks in early April, even after one of the detainees tested positive. The warden said that doing so “would cause ‘hysteria’ among the detainees,” the complainant said.
“There is a lot of mental and physical stress,” said another whistleblower, adding that many Richwood employees are concerned about infecting their families.
According to ICE, 65 detainees at the Richwood facility tested positive. ICE does not report the number of staff hired by contractors who have been infected with COVID-19, but whistleblowers and other media have reported that two staff members at the Richwood facility have died from the virus.
LaSalle Corrections did not respond to a request for comment on the allegations. The company’s chief executive officer, Rodney Cooper, testified Monday that the company has been regularly updating its protocols and issuing guidance since the start of the pandemic.
“There are comprehensive protocols for the protection of staff and detainees, including the appropriate use of PPE [personal protective equipment] according to CDC guidance, “Cooper said.
A detainee who went through a LaSalle immigrant processing center for immigrants in Jena, Louisiana, and is part of a lawsuit filed in federal court by the ACLU, alleged that he was not adequately protected against the virus during his transit between three facilities during on June 29 and 30. .
“In Jena, I was barely there 24 hours. But I did see that many of the staff were not wearing masks,” plaintiff Stephen Brown said in court documents. “I was especially surprised to see the nurse who was administering medications that did not wear her mask. She called me … I was wearing my mask. I asked her why she was not wearing it. She said she read that the CDC said the masks did. it doesn’t protect you so she’s not wearing one. She also said social distancing doesn’t help. “
Brown’s lawsuit seeks the release of migrants detained at ICE during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Samantha Feinstein, one of the attorneys representing Richwood’s whistleblowers, urged Congress to take steps to ensure better conditions at ICE facilities managed by federal contractors.
“Whistleblowers present themselves at considerable personal risk, but those who tell the truth feel compelled to speak out because workers and detainees are dying in Richwood; it will only get worse if things don’t change immediately,” he said.
Democrats on the committee asked Damon Hininger, president and CEO of CoreCivic, if the company was conducting an investigation into allegations of unsafe conditions at company facilities in Eloy, Arizona.
NBC News reported that nearly half the staff tested positive at the facility, and more than 240 immigrants at a facility with an average daily population of 1,100 also contracted the virus.
Hininger said: “If it is appropriate that we need to make a change or an adjustment to our processes, we would do it in real time and not wait for an investigation.”
Natalia Abrahams contributed
