U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is failing to provide adequate healthcare at a new detention center in California City. Detainees complained of missing medications and months-long delays to cancer treatment.
According to CalMatters, the findings appear in a report by Dr. Muthusamy Anandkumar, an independent court-appointed monitor of the California City Immigration Processing Center.
A judge appointed the monitor in March as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by seven detainees who allege the conditions in the California City facility are a violation of their due process rights.
That facility is about 75 miles east of Bakersfield and run by the private prison company CoreCivic. The federal government purchased the facility earlier this month but CoreCivic continues to operate it.
The fault, Dr. Anandkumar wrote, was not with the individual healthcare workers, but rather an issue of staffing, management and oversight. At times, staff was pulled out of training to cover a shift because of staffing shortages.
A CoreCivic spokesperson said the facility provides daily access to physical and mental care services, and said emergency medical services are available 24 hours a day, every day.
