Senator requests probe into Adelanto detention center following hunger strike

Detainees at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center are currently participating in a hunger strike protesting what they say is inhumane treatment inside the center. The center’s operator, the GEO Group, is allegedly retaliating against detainees participating in the strike, according to those inside the facility.

Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) sent Attorney General Rob Bonta a letter June 5 asking for a formal investigation into the center and its possible retaliation actions. 

“We cannot ignore these alarming accounts from the brave people being detained in facilities like Adelanto. People are dying in these private, for-profit detention centers and there is little oversight of what’s happening,” Pérez said in a statement. “Every one of us has a moral obligation to speak up and demand that safe and humane treatment be afforded to every person held in detention.”

Bonta’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on a possible investigation.

Detainees launched the hunger strike on May 19 in protest of inhumane conditions, including lack of clean water or adequate food, presence of mold and inaccessible medical attention. On May 28, 150 detainees inside Adelanto signed and submitted a Petition of Writ, a legal document requesting for a higher court to intervene and take action.

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According to the petition, shared with CALÓ News by Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-Pasadena), there are detainees attempting death by suicide due to their treatment. The petition also claims detainees are being denied due process and are being misled by lawyers and judges.

“THIS IS JUST TO NAME A FEW THINGS THAT’S HAPPENING ON THIS END,” reads the petition. “WE NEED HELP PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH OTHERS. THIS IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.”

The document names the warden of the Adelanto facility, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), GEO Group and President Donald Trump as defendants. The petition further claims detainees are facing violations of the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth amendments.

DHS denies inmates are served inadequate food and water and says there are mental health services available as well as 24/7 emergency medical care. Multiple inmate accounts, as well as oversight visits from politicians, contradict DHS’ claims.

In a statement to CALÓ News, DHS also claimed “there is no hunger strike at Adelanto. No one is being abused.” The department did not comment on the possibility of an investigation through the California attorney general’s office.

L.A. Taco reported this week that individuals who were participating in the Adelanto strike have been punished by guards, allegedly being beaten, pepper sprayed and placed in solitary confinement after they spoke with members of Congress, including Chu, conducting an oversight visit.

“The problems at Adelanto are not new, and they are not isolated,” Chu said in a June 1 statement. “They are the result of years of neglect that have continued despite repeated warnings, congressional oversight and detainee deaths. Adelanto has had countless opportunities to change and has failed time and again. It is time to shut down this facility once and for all."

The GEO Group did not respond to a request for comment.

“You have the authority, the influence and the resources to end this suffering immediately,” reads a letter from Pérez to George Zoley, the Chairman, CEO and founder of the GEO Group. Pérez further writes that by having received the letter, Zoley now has “the knowledge and moral obligation” to take action.

Bonta’s office recently released its fifth report on conditions inside the state's seven detention centers, in accordance with a 2017 California law. The report describes the conditions inside these facilities as “cruel, inhumane and unacceptable.”

Backing up what detainees have claimed, the report states that Bonta’s staff witnessed insufficient staffing, inadequate medical access, unsafe and inadequate food and water, due process barriers and more.

Bonta said in a statement he hopes the report will “generate the rightful outrage and urgency necessary to improve conditions and protect detainees’ civil rights.”