CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (KERO) — A newly released 51-page report is raising serious concerns about medical care at the California City ICE detention center.
Independent medical reviewer Dr. Muthusamy Anandkumar concluded the facility lacks a reliable system to consistently provide adequate health care, putting detainees at risk of immediate and long-term harm. The report followed a federal court order tied to an ongoing lawsuit.
After three days of on-site visits and interviews with staff and 40 patients, investigators assessed eight separate areas of care. Every single one was labeled noncompliant.
Findings included inadequate staffing, delays in medical evaluations, concerns over medication access, difficulty getting patients timely specialty appointments, and medical records that did not clearly show whether conditions were fully evaluated, treated, or properly followed up on.
Mental health care was another major concern. In the report, Anandkumar wrote:
"Given the number of patients and the seriousness of their medical and mental health needs, these substantial gaps contribute to an unsafe environment. Staffing shortages make even basic mental health care difficult to deliver."
The review was ordered after the San Francisco law firm behind the lawsuit received multiple allegations of inadequate medical care. Cody Harris, a partner at the firm, said the report's findings speak for themselves.
"There's 1,600 people right now in California City [detention center] and they have medical issues that range from cancer to chronic conditions like diabetes to the common cold," Harris said. "What this medical report that just was unveiled demonstrates that on every level they're not in compliance."
23ABC reached out to both CoreCivic, the private company that operates the facility, and ICE for comment.
In a statement, CoreCivic said it is actively reviewing the report and responded in part:
"Nothing matters more to CoreCivic than the health, safety and well-being of the people in our care, and we take seriously our responsibility to respond to questions about our operations with accuracy and transparency."
CoreCivic added that the California City facility operates under multiple layers of oversight, that care is provided by licensed and credentialed professionals, and that individuals have daily access to physical and mental health services with emergency care available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The company also said prescribed medications are managed through established clinical protocols and that specialty care is coordinated with outside providers when needed.
In its statement, ICE said:
"Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE. ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens. ICE is regularly audited and inspected by external agencies to ensure that all ICE facilities comply with performance-based national detention standards."
When asked whether he found those statements accurate, Harris said:
"No. I mean I think you can read the report and you can see that it's not accurate. They've got some effort that they've made to have some kind of medical system at California city, the question is, is it adequate, is it functioning?"
Recommendations from Anandkumar include changes to improve staffing, strengthen oversight, track patient care more effectively, and ensure treatment decisions are documented and followed through.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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