Petition cites detainee 's death
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By KEN SERRANO
STAFF WRITER
A group of civil-rights activists are joining more than 90 immigration
detainees to call attention to the death of a Cuban national who was
being
held at
The man, detained under the name Arturo Alvarez, died March 2 at St.
Peter's
attack at the jail Feb. 29, authorities said.
A petition signed by 93 detainees was sent to Michael Chertoff,
secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Attorney
General Michael Mukasey, complaining about what the detainees called a
lack of medical treatment for the heart-attack victim and another man
at the jail.
The petition contends that Alvarez asked for help and was given
Tylenol and his own medication, "but no doctor was available to see
him."
Nicki Newby, an organizer for the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense
Committee, said
the group plans to call
on the
freeholders
to terminate the contract the county jail has with
Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"We've heard similar
stories from other jails in
parts of the country that detainees are sometimes ignored and not
getting required medical attention," Newby said.
Michael Gilhooly, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security,
which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement, denied the
allegation of medical neglect.
"When it became apparent that the individual was ill, he received
proper medical care," Gilhooly said. "We take the health and welfare
of our people very seriously."
As with the deaths of all detainees , the case has been referred to
the bureau's internal affairs office, said Mark Vogler, assistant
field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement's
detection
and removal office in
The dead man's real name was Arturo Suarez-Almenares, and he was 72,
Gilhooly said.
Officials with knowledge of the case who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because they are not authorized to release details of
Suarez-Almenares,
said he arrived from
Mariel
Boat Lift when 125,000 Cubans fled to the
A few years later, Suarez-Almenares started establishing a lengthy
criminal
history in
prison on drug distribution charges. He was sent to prison last in
April 2007, released to immigration officials in October and taken to
State Department of Corrections records have him listed as Arturo
Saurez.
An order of removal was long ago made final against Suarez-Almenares,
Gilhooly said. But Cuban nationals cannot be repatriated because of
edicts by the Castro government. So they live in a sort of immigration
limbo and are kept in a permanent probation-like program that requires
them to maintain contact with immigration authorities.
Gilhooly said Suarez-Almenares was about to be released when he fell
ill.
A friend of Suarez-Almenares, Avello Guillermo of
friend
lived mostly in that
Guillermo was unsure if Suarez-Almenares had family, although he has
heard
of a sister in
Gilhooly said there is no known next of kin.
For now, his body will remain at St. Peter's morgue. If no one claims
his remains, the federal government is obligated to bury him, Gilhooly
said.
The petition also alleged the neglect of a detainee identified as
Cemar Koc.
The petition claims the detainee complained of pain to a first shift
duty officer, got no help, and after complaining to a second-shift
officer lost consciousness.
Les Paschall, CEO of CFG Health Systems, a limited liability
corporation that runs medical and mental-health services at the
-Almenares, citing lawyer's advice and security rules.
Paschall said he could not confirm that a detainee by the name of Koc
was at the jail, also citing security restrictions, but he said he is
investigating the neglect claim.
The company's parent corporation is Center for Family Guidance, based
in Marlton.
Gilhooly said the medical services there are routinely inspected along
with the facility. They were last inspected in April 2007 and are
scheduled for another review this month.
Newby said the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee is focused
more on Immigration and Customs Enforcement than the medical services
provider, although they are still trying to find out more about both.
"The death of Arturo Alvarez, like at least sixty other deaths in
detention
in the
fully explained or accounted for, is the inevitable outcome of a
system that lacks adequate oversight and accountability," the group
said in a statement.
The county jail receives about $100 a day per detainee , said Ed
Cicchi, warden of the jail. That payment is largely a profit since
detainees are taking up otherwise empty space.
The contract allows for up to 187 detainees to be kept there, although
the number fluctuates.
Cicchi declined to discuss Suarez-Almenares' death or the claim about
Koc, citing restrictions in the jail's contract with Immigration
uthorities.