Detainees Routinely Tortured In ‘Abusive’ US Migrant Jail

More than 200 detainees held at the Stewart detention center (SDC) in Georgia, a state in the southeast United States, had faced abuse, torture, and violence. Recently, they spoke out against the inhumane conditions and mistreatment they endured daily at the detention center.

Detainees at the Stewart detention center (SDC) in Lumpkin, Georgia, said in a recent petition addressed to local officials and the Joe Biden administration that they faced intense abuse in the migrant jail.

The petition, organized by Sopheak Pal, an SDC detainee, demanded immediate action to stop torture againnst the detainees. Sopheak Pal told The Guardian, “We’re treated worse than criminals. This place is horrible, like the way they treat us … we are all human, and we should all be treated like humans.”

Detainees Routinely Tortured In Stewart Facility

Stewart Detention Center, a private prison operated by Corrections Corporation of America under contract with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has been the subject of recent reports detailing confinement, violence, torture, and sexual abuse of migrants.

A migrant detainee lost roughly 50% of his vision due to lack of medical treatment at the migrant detention facility. Freedom for Immigrants’ senior communications manager, Jeff Migliozzi, said that the migrant facility was abusive towards detainees. Many migrants also lost their lives due to lack of medical care. 

He said, “Stewart is a notoriously deadly detention center – one of the deadliest in the country.”

Detainees at Stewart Detention Center, primarily used for housing immigrant detainees, sustained the cycle of violence, which created a hidden epidemic that jeopardized the physical health of migrants.

The facility, located in Lumpkin, Stewart County, Georgia, came under fire because of abysmal treatment of migrants. Detainees suffered extended periods of solitary confinement, without access to clean water, without adequate food and air conditioning as well as without medical care.

Migrants are often denied medical care, access to working showers, adequate food and they are pressed into cleaning duties. 

Last month, Louisiana’s Angola prison came under fire. Children detained in Angola prison in Louisiana suffered violence. They endured punishment from older inmates.