Wrongful Death Suit Settled with Feds: Latino Man Denied Medical Care at For-Profit Immigration Prison

From [HERE] The widow of a Mexican native who died while in the custody of federal immigration authorities in Georgia has reached a settlement with the government in the $1 million wrongful death lawsuit she filed in March. But attorneys representing the federal government, Sara Hernandez-Gonzalez and her late husband, Roberto Medina-Martinez, are declining to disclose the terms of their settlement. They intend to finalize their agreement by September and then file papers to dismiss the case, court records show. 

In March 2009, Roberto Martinez-Medina was detained and arrested for not having a driver’s license or proof of legal status. Immediately after his arrest, Medina was sent to CCA’s (Corrections Corporation of America) Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.  Less than a month later Roberto Martinez-Medina was dead.

The U.S. Government contracts with CCA to operate the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center. The ICE facility detains illegal aliens who are apprehended and placed into removal proceedings. During his detainment at Stewart Detention Center–the largest private prison in the country–Medina complained of a pre-existing heart ailment, but was denied medical care over several shifts. There is no medical service available at the detention center, and the nearest hospital is at least an hour away. The main reason for this lack of basic care: CCA had cut medical care costs and other basic needs to increase their quarterly and yearly profit.

He died from myocarditis --- or an inflammation of the heart muscle --- because of the federal government's negligence. The attorneys representing Hernandez-Gonzalez said that problem is often treatable. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's policy requires all detainees to receive physical exams when they are admitted and for a physician to sign their physical exam reports, indicating they had been reviewed. A physician did not review or sign the report for Medina-Martinez, the lawsuit says.

An ICE investigative report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through the federal Freedom of Information Act says the physical exam he received at the Stewart Detention Center south of Columbus gave him a "good" health ranking. The report confirms a physician did not review or sign his physical exam report, though the report also says the detention center gave him "proper care and treatment." Other ICE records say his X-ray results were abnormal but were assessed as normal and never reviewed by a physician as required.

Medina’s death was attributed not only to inadequate assessments made by a sub-par doctor but also a delay in medical treatment. According to the claim, Stewart “had over 1000 physical exams that were not reviewed by the doctor within a one year period including the one performed for Mr. Medina.”   [MORE] 

ICE records say he was a Mexican citizen who had entered the country illegally in 2001. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is helping represent the widow in her lawsuit, said Medina-Martinez was "undocumented" at the time of his death.

The ACLU of Georgia recently released a report (pdf) titled "Prisoners for Profit", which examined conditions at four facilities in the state, including the Stewart Detention Center.  The report is replete with allegations of abuse, mistreatment and medical neglect, and relates in detail the death of Roberto Medina Martinez, a 40-year-old detainee, who died from what his widow's lawyers claim was a treatable infection.

The report also highlights the disturbing fact that although the majority of immigrants have committed no crime other than not having the right paperwork, they are housed in punitive, prison-like conditions that, in some cases, are worse than those faced by convicted criminals. For instance, detainees are denied any contact visits with their families or loved ones, as a matter of Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) official policy. They are allowed only one hour of outdoor recreation five days a week, which is less outdoor time than prisoners in maximum security facilities can expect to get.