SAN DIEGO, Calif. — A private immigration detention facility along the San Diego-Mexico border held a migrant woman in solitary confinement for over two years, a new report reveals.
Researchers with Harvard University and Physicians for Human Rights outlined the case at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in a report entitled ‘Endless Nightmare’: Torture and Inhuman Treatment in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Immigration Detention.
“It's horrific and completely egregious. It certainly goes far beyond meeting the definition of torture,” said report co-author Tessa Wilson in an interview with Team 10 investigator Austin Grabish from New York.
The report found ICE oversaw more than 14,000 solitary confinement placements from 2018 – 2023 across the United States.
Researchers with Harvard Law School got the data for the report through freedom of information requests and by suing federal immigration officials.
The data reveals solitary confinement was used 723 times at the Otay Mesa Detention Center from 2018- September 2023.
Researchers found people living with serious mental illness were held in isolation for 106 days on average at the facility.
“People who have a mental health condition were often held longer in solitary confinement than people who did not have a mental health condition,” Wilson said referring to the report’s overall findings.
But the most shocking finding was a Mexican woman who was held for 759 days in solitary confinement. The isolation was the longest recorded.
“It's horrific and completely egregious. It certainly goes far beyond meeting the definition of torture. It's completely inappropriate,” said Wilson.
Kissing can lead to solitary
The migrant’s placement was listed as ‘detainee requested,’ Arevik Avedian, a law professor at Harvard, told Team 10.
Avedian said the reason was listed as ‘other.’ A note said the migrant had been written up for having a disciplinary infraction for fighting, boxing, wrestling, sparring, and any other form of physical encounter, including horseplay, that could cause injury.
ICE declined to comment on the case when contacted by Team 10 and said it would need a privacy waiver to discuss it.
Wilson said researchers found solitary confinement is being routinely used for minor infractions such as consensual kissing.
“Two people who were in immigration detention who had shared a kiss were each placed in solitary confinement for 30 days each as punishment for that.”
Physicians for Human Rights told Team 10 although Otay Mesa had the maximum length of confinement, average solitary times for the Imperial Regional Detention Facility were even worse. The facility is located about two hours east of San Diego.
ICE responds
Researchers found migrants spent an average of a month in solitary at the facility. In one case, a migrant was held for over a year.
ICE spokesman Mike Alvarez said segregation is never used as a method of retaliation and should be used only as a last resort.
“Detainees are often placed in a special management unit due to requested protective custody, as the result of the disciplinary hearing panel finding the detainee guilty of a prohibited act or rule violation, and to quarantine/cohort if no medical housing unit is available.”
Alvarez said noncitizens detained in segregation may be given opportunities to spend time outside their cells for socializing, watching TV, playing board games and may be assigned to voluntary work details.
The report’s authors found the use of solitary confinement increased under the Biden administration despite a 2020 campaign promise by the president to end the practice.
“[The migrants] could still be sitting in solitary confinement right now and that's why we think it's so urgent that the Biden administration just have to make a call to end it,” Wilson said.
The White House didn't return a request for comment.
