As the Washington Post reported last year, immigrants in detention often suffer from neglect to the point of abuse. The bill just passed by the House, The Death In Custody Reporting Act, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, forces federal, state, and local facilities to report details about the deceased to the federal government, including race, age, ethnicity, the law enforcement agency that detained the subject, and a description of the circumstances surrounding their death, or face funding cuts at the discretion of the Attorney General.
On a related note, my friend Renee Feltz also reports that ICE is looking to outsource inspections of its facilities, as per a recommendation made by an Inspector General's report. The report suggested that privatized inspections would lead to more timely reporting of information about detainee deaths. Renee notes that the inspections are, among other things, meant to ensure that “[d]etainees who are chronically or terminally ill are transferred to an appropriate offsite medical facility.”
-- A. Serwer
