SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Two complaints of correctional staff committing sexual abuse were found to be substantiated at a private immigration detention center in Otay Mesa, according to a new report from the California Department of Justice.
The facility’s response to sexual abuse is one of several issues the state attorney general’s office has put under the microscope.
“These private immigration detention facilities need significant improvements,” Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters in San Diego Tuesday.
Bonta’s office found issues at all six privately-owned immigration detention centers in California. Investigators toured the facilities in 2013 and spent hundreds of hours interviewing staff and detainees to prepare the report released Tuesday.
“What we found was alarming. At certain facilities, detained individuals were over-disciplined, including for simply making a complaint,” Bonta said.
At the Otay Mesa Detention Facility, the state found severe mental health deficiencies.
State justice officials told reporters the Core Civic detention center didn’t have a psychologist on site. Detainees placed on suicide watch are put in cells with no plumbing and must relieve themselves through grates on the floor, the CA Justice report found.
Bonta’s office also took issue with restrictive housing being used as punishment.
“Staff appeared to overutilize discipline and use of force,” he said.
and in emergency boxes in the main corridor. There are two suicide watch cells — both in the intake area — which are dry cells with floor grates instead of a toilet.
Foreign nationals denied entry at the San Diego border who were recently sent to the Otay Mesa Detention Center have spoken out about the conditions inside.
Detainees speak out to Team 10
“I didn't eat for the first few days because the food is just... It’s not food,” said Canadian actress and entrepreneur Jasmine Mooney, who spoke to Team 10 from the facility in March.
In February, German woman Jessica Brösche said she spent eight days in solitary confinement inside the Otay Mesa facility. Core Civic says it doesn't use solitary confinement but rather isolation when necessary for detainee safety.
“It was horrible,” she said in a phone call from the site.
Bonta told Team 10 he wasn't surprised to hear the accounts from the foreign nationals. He said private immigration companies need to be held accountable for the conditions they provide.
“Unfortunately, because that's the reputation they've earned through their own conduct for years,” he said.
Detainee spent 9 months in segregation
The report released on Tuesday found that detainees with serious mental health conditions were placed in prolonged isolation inside the Otay Mesa Detention Center.
In one case, a detainee engaged in self-harm and was placed in segregation, where he was on suicide watch for nine months, the report said.
CoreCivic didn’t return a request for comment on Tuesday morning, but in the past, the company has told Team 10 it follows rigorous standards.
“We provide a safe, humane, and appropriate environment for those entrusted to us at this facility and are constantly striving to deliver an even better standard of care,” Brian Todd, a CoreCivic spokesman, said last month.
He added the company provides three nutritious meals a day to detainees.
“Our immigration facilities are monitored very closely by our government partners at ICE, and they are required to undergo regular review and audit processes to ensure an appropriate standard of living and care for all detainees.”
Investigative Reporter Austin Grabish can be reached at austin.grabish@10news.com
