Detainee Health Care: The Rest of the Story

Recently, several media have been reporting on the medical care of detainees in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Unfortunately, the reporting on this issue has been misleading and exaggerated. 

On May 5, the New York Times published an article about the few deaths that have regrettably occurred in ICE facilities. That article was followed by an inflammatory editorial.  On May 11, the Washington Post began a four-part series of articles about the same subject, and CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired its story that same night. Given the imbalanced and inaccurate portrayal of the quality of medical care provided to our detainees, ICE is compelled to correct the record.

For specific responses to the New York Times and Washington Post articles, please refer to our Myths vs. Facts page.

All medical facilities at detention centers owned or contracted by ICE are required to be compliant with health care standards from the American Correctional Association, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, the Joint Commission, and the ICE National Detention Standards, which surpass industry standards in their stringency and commitment to detainee health and comfort.  Many of the state and local facilities unfairly criticized in the aforementioned media adhere to these or comparable standards.

Last year, ICE spent nearly $100 million providing medical care to detainees, almost double the funding of just five years ago. While the ICE detainee population has increased by more than 30 percent since 2004, the mortality rate declined from 29 in calendar year 2004 to 7 in calendar year 2007.
The number of deaths per 100,000 people is dramatically lower in ICE facilities than in U.S. prisons and jails, not to mention among the general U.S. population.

In 2005, the mortality rate for ICE detainees was 7.5 per 100,000, compared with 540.5 among inmates at U.S. prisons and jails.  For the general population, the rate was even higher: 798.8 and 826 in fiscal years 2005 and 2007, respectively.  ICE’s new oversight procedures have helped decrease the mortality rate even further, to 4.3 in 2007.  For further information, please refer to our Fact Sheets on Detainee Health Care and the DRO: Detainee Mortality Rates.

Despite ICE’s best efforts to inform the media of the facts relating to its health care efforts, the New York Times and the Washington Post refused to acknowledge the increased funding for detainee health care or the decrease in mortality rates.  This absence of true and unbiased reporting is unfortunate.  The public deserves to know that their tax dollars are being used effectively and that we have a commitment to provide detainees with a safe and humane environment pending a decision on their case.

ICE routinely provides medical care for life-threatening conditions, such as cardiac arrest, kidney disease, high risk pregnancies, HIV/AIDS, hypertension, and diabetes.  ICE detainees also receive dental visits, physical exams, sick call visits, prescriptions and prescription drugs, as well as mental health visits.

Staff working with ICE detainees are trained to spot suicide risks and to use prevention and intervention techniques. In the last 12 months, psychologists and social workers have managed a daily population of over 1,350 seriously mentally ill detainees without a single suicide.  For more information, please refer to our Suicide Prevention Initiatives.

In recent years, ICE has made significant strides to increase its detention oversight and accountability.  For example, ICE established the Detention Facilities Inspection Group in February 2007.  This independent component has the responsibility of reviewing and validating detention inspections and ensuring the consistent application of agency standards to make certain that corrective actions are taken.  ICE has also contracted with an independent company to place full-time quality assurance professionals at each of our 40 largest facilities and to arrange for rotational visits to our smaller facilities.   

The detention of individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States and pending removal raises strong opinions and merits a more balanced view.  We regret that the New York Times, the Washington Post, and “60 Minutes” have failed to provide such balanced reporting.  This website and its contents are meant to correct the record and provide a comprehensive overview of ICE’s commitment to detainee health care.

Full statement for the Washington Post, May 7, 2008

Full statement for “60 Minutes”, May 7, 2008