CoreCivic, the private prison company, has confirmed that a person died in its custody at one of its housing units at Otay Mesa Detention Center last week.
The death reportedly occurred on Saturday, October 24.
CoreCivic says they responded to reports of an unresponsive individual in their assigned living area around 11:30 a.m. Medical staff arrived to perform life-saving measures, but the person was pronounced dead.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of anyone in our care. Our government partners at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were notified immediately. All deaths in ICE custody are reviewed by ICE," CoreCivic said in a statement.
We have reached out to ICE/DHS for more information but have yet to hear back.
Chair Pro Tempore of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, Paloma Aguirre, released a statement Monday regarding the death, saying they are awaiting more information about the cause and the person’s identity. The statement acknowledged concerns within the facility regarding health care.
Read the full statement from Aguirre below:
“On Saturday, a person died at Otay Mesa Detention Center, right here in our district. We don’t yet know their name. But somewhere, a family is waiting for a phone call, and my heart is with them.
The people held at Otay Mesa are fathers, mothers, and neighbors of families I represent. That’s why we fought so hard to get inside. We were turned away at the door. We had to go to federal court. When our public health team finally got in, we found tuberculosis cases no one told the County about, no vaccines in stock, and a man who had waited 18 months for a medical device.
Those findings were a warning, and this family deserves to know whether anyone listened.
ICE and CoreCivic need to reach this family without delay, cooperate fully with a thorough investigation, and share what they find with the family and the public. I have asked our County Public Health Officer to look at what follow-up our inspection authority allows.
We went to court so we could exercise our lawful duty to inspect the Otay Mesa facility to ensure people detained were at least safe. Our inspection raised serious concerns. ICE and CoreCivic must answer for them and fix them, so no other family has to wait for answers the way this one is waiting now.”
No additional details were immediately available.
