Immigrants detained at New York’s Orange County Correctional Facility (OCCF) have described beatings at the hands of multiple officers, including the February group assault of one detained man with “mental and cognitive disabilities and suffers chronic suicidality.” Meanwhile, immigrants who dare to express their grievances are threatened with solitary confinement, which is torture.
The allegations are part of a civil rights complaint filed by organizations last week, which describes widespread racist abuse and mistreatment by officers and was detailed here yesterday by Daily Kos. Indeed, the complaint states that violent officers have screamed at detained immigrants that “if [you] don’t like being treated this way, [you] should go back to [your] countries.”
“It is well established that solitary confinement is torture,” the civil rights complaint states. “At OCCF, detained people have reported that officers have repeatedly wielded solitary confinement—and its threat—to silence those attempting to exercise their First Amendment rights by collectively expressing their grievances.”
The complaint states that in another incident a month prior to the disabled man’s assault, up to 20 officers engaged in violence against detained immigrants who wanted to speak to a sergeant about a racist officer, punishing the group with five days of solitary. The complaint further noted that “everyone in the unit, regardless of their participation, was locked up for the rest of the day.”
“People in detention report that OCCF officers and sergeants abuse lock-ins as cruel and retaliatory punishment against individuals for personal and unknown reasons,” the complaint continued.
But for petty reasons too. “If you have a cup of water in the common area and an officer doesn't like it, they’ll make you go lock into your room,” one person noted in the complaint, while was filed by Envision Freedom Fund, Catholic Charities Community Services—Archdiocese of New York, For the Many, Freedom for Immigrants, New York University School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic, and New York Lawyers for the Public.
“Agustin’ described being locked in for a full night and day for sharing food from his dinner tray as a ‘personal punishment, not recorded formally in a disciplinary log.’” That instantly raises some alarms, because now you have to wonder what other kind of “personal,” off-the-books punishment happens to human beings jailed at Orange County Correctional Facility.
“After the [Jan. 1] incident, I was locked in for five days as a punishment, just because they didn’t want to pay attention to our grievances,” said “Benjamin.” Like others from the report, he’s not giving his real name for his own safety.
“On the fourth day of my punishment, they took me to something like a court in the jail, where they read charges against me,” he continued. “I said I was not guilty, but the jail found me guilty anyway. They told me not to tell anyone about what happened, not even my lawyer. I don’t know why they told me that. Maybe because they already have a lot of complaints against the jail.”
The first diary on the coalition’s complaint this past week noted that dozens of detained immigrants are currently engaged in a hunger strike over horrific conditions at OCCF, including widespread racist abuses.
Notably, one officer repeatedly named in the complaint “appears to be affiliated with multiple ‘nazikommando’ email addresses.” The sheriff’s office that operates the facility has already admitted past ties to the white supremacist militia group Oath Keepers.
“My experience living here has been one of racism and mistreatment,” said “Andres.” He said officers have “a hatred for Hispanic and Black people,” saying they commonly get punished for no legitimate reason. “They harass us and put us in segregation. There is a group of officers that are especially racist, but all of the officers are responsible.”
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