More than $25M spent on unused beds at ICE facility, report says

More than $25 million was spent on empty bed space at a privately run Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in McFarland in 2022-23, according to a federal report released late last month.

The 28-page report, released April 18, compiled the findings of an unannounced visit by the U.S. Inspector General’s office to the facility, operated by GEO Group, from April 18 to 20, 2023. The inspection included a tour of the facility, review of its records and interviews with staff and detainees.

These types of visits, according to the report, are routine and not at the request of a department.

Federal auditors found the facility, maintained and operated by the for-profit GEO Group, had complied in several areas, including its use of force, its voluntary work program, and allowing detainees access to a law library and legal services.

But it also found that GEO Group failed to follow up with its grievance log and detainee requests, delayed in offering optometry care and general check-ups to patients, did not provide detainees adequate access to recreational facilities and continued operating a dorm despite “unsanitary and unsafe conditions” in one of the housing units due to a leaky roof.

“It really stands out that there were multiple violations found,” said Lizeth Calderon with the American Civil Liberties Union, Southern California. “And all of the violations all relate back to the health and wellness of the folks that are detained.”

GEO Group, a Florida-based operator, has faced past complaints by immigration advocates and members of Congress over alleged denial of proper treatment such as COVID tests. In December 2022, during which inspectors surveyed the facilities’ records, the group was fined by Cal/OSHA for $104,510 over “willful and serious” violation of six state health codes related to unsafe conditions perpetuated during the pandemic.

The ACLU’s National Prison Project currently has a class action lawsuit, Jimenez v. ICE, against the agency over the reported lack of access to COVID antivirals and Paxlovid at GSA. The suit was filed the first week of December.

Staff, according to the report, provided “detainees blankets to soak up the water” when it rained. They did, however, submit a work order in December 2022, four months prior to the federal inspection. Work orders were also submitted for leaks in three other housing units and the intake area, the report found.

In a review of complaints submitted by detainees to the facility, auditors found 22% of requests did not receive a response within three days. Of the facility complaints reviewed, none submitted in a non-English language received a response.

Eddy Laine, a member of KWESI, a local advocacy group that regularly meets with detainees at GSA and the Mesa Verde facility in Bakersfield, said the report should be an “eye-opener.”

“Other government-funded entities and agencies would not be permitted to continue operating with such failures,” Laine wrote.

But the chief finding in the report is that due to its contract with the GEO Group, ICE must pay the facility for a guaranteed minimum of 560 detainees. The average number of detainees in the year leading up to the report was 136.

“How can it be that the federal government (we taxpayers) during the last 12 months provided GEO with $25 million ‘for unused bed space’ at its Golden State Annex in McFarland?” Laine wrote. “Where is fiscal sanity with regard to such a practice?”

From these, federal auditors made several recommendations: establish a plan to reduce wait times for optometry appointments; timestamp documents pertaining to detainees; collect medical grievances within 24 hours of submission by a detainee; provide detainees adequate outdoor exercise time and equipment; and make the necessary fixes to the roof.

The inspectors also recommended that ICE review and update its contract with GEO Group, to “avoid excessive payment for unused bed space.”

Denise Hauser, a spokesperson for ICE, relegated comments to the responses provided in the report, which concurred with each of the seven recommendations. The department said that last August it had contracted with a local optometrist in Bakersfield and provided photos that showed the leaky roof had been repaired last October. ICE’s San Francisco field office will “assess its use of Golden State,” and determine an “guaranteed minimum level” that is appropriate.

In a Jan. 25 response to the report, ICE Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Cleary wrote: “ICE remains committed to providing industry-leading standards and superior levels of safety, security, and humane environments for noncitizens entrusted to its care.”

This report comes after repeated offenses have surfaced — and prompted hunger strikes by its occupants — over the handling of the Golden State Annex facility.

Most recently in March, detainees raised concerns about supply shortages following a reported 200% increase in the population in the past year. With the surge in occupants, 22 legal and advocacy groups sent ICE officials a letter that spelled out failures to provide water, medical care, hygiene and clothes for its detainees.