Action Page 2008-02: Prevent Neglect of Immigrant Detainees in County Jails

Written by Karina Wilkinson and Robert Scardapane

Tuesday, 25 March 2008 15:28

On March 2th, a Cuban immigrant detainee, Arturo Alvarez, died from a heart attack he suffered while being held in Middlesex County jail. A petition signed by over 90 detainees contends that Mr. Alvarez asked for medical help on February 29th and was given Tylenol and some medications that he had, but no doctor was on call to see him. He died on March 2th in St. Peters Hospital emergency room. Detainees at this facility are so concerned about the neglect towards severe medical complaints that they signed a petition to Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff and United States Attorney General Mukasey (see link below).

Actions:

1) Write letters to local, state, and national publications, calling for the proper medical treatment for immigrant detainees at Middlesex County Jail.

New Jersey area newspapers: Go to our NJ Media Corps Online Action Center: http://www.usmediacorps.org/nj/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,40/
National media: Use the Congress.org Media Guide at: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/

2) Write a letter to your Congressional representative asking them to support H.R. 5950 (Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008).

Congress.org at: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/

Letter writing tips:

In your letter, use some (not all) of the talking points (see below). Two or three is a good number. Keep your letter short and to the point.

Good luck and hope to see you in print!

NJ Media Corps

Talking points:

Call on the Middlesex County Freeholders to immediately investigate conditions for immigrant detainees in the county jail and the medical service provider CFG Health Systems and its parent company Center for Family Guidance, of Marlton, NJ.
Call on County Freeholders to follow Passaic County and end the contract with the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement department.
Make similar calls on Bergen, Camden, Hudson and Monmouth freeholders.
Immigrant detainees are often held for years while their cases go unresolved.
Health care access is commonly denied to the detainees.
There is insufficient oversight and accountability in the system.

Background:

Ken Serrano of the Home News Tribune (March 15, 2008) writes, concerning the death in Middlesex:

"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."
“The dead man's real name was Arturo Suarez-Almenares, and he was 72, Gilhooly [spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security] 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 Cuba in 1980, the year of the Mariel Boat Lift when 125,000 Cubans fled to the United States… He spent five separate stints in state prison on drug distribution charges. He was sent to prison last in April 2007, released to immigration officials in October and taken to Middlesex County jail, Gilhooly said.
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.”