Essex County Jail Stuck ICE Detainees With Giant Underwear: Feds

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — When undocumented immigrants in the custody of ICE enter the Essex County Correctional Facility, they get a bar of soap, a stick of deodorant, a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste and a comb.

And in the past, some also got stuck with massively oversize underwear.

A lack of properly sized detainee clothing – including boxer shorts – was one of several violations found during a surprise inspection of the Essex County Correctional Facility (ECCF) in Newark, one of multiple prisons in New Jersey that currently gets paid to house ICE detainees.

The inspection, carried out in July of 2018, alleged that detainees at the county-run prison were being served stomach-churning food, going to sleep on tattered mattresses, showering in moldy stalls and spending their “outdoor time” inside mesh cages.

“For dinner, we were served meatballs that smelled like fecal matter,” one inmate told federal inspectors.

• See related article: Jail Served Us Meatballs That Smelled Like Poop, NJ Inmate Says

When the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) first revealed its inspection results in a February report, it inspired a wave of protest from local activists.

But federal authorities weren't done. On June 3, the OIG released an updated report, which named several additional issues seen during the July 2018 inspection.

Clothing Shortages, Huge Boxer Shorts – Inspectors found the ECCF was issuing detainees clothing in size 3x and 4x. Inspection of the warehouse revealed that the facility only had size 3x and 4x with no other sizes available. The facility was also completely out of stock on boxer shorts and those previously provided to detainees were in size 3x and 4x, which detainees “could not even keep on.” Detainees reported and facility staff confirmed that improperly sized uniforms are never replaced, as detainees are required to keep uniforms provided during intake and wash them during their stay at the facility.

Handcuffs and Strip-Searches – While not always required to by ICE, officers at ECCF made detainees in “disciplinary segregation” wear handcuffs while they were outside their cells. Detainees were also strip-searched when they entered disciplinary or administrative segregation, sometimes without documented justification.

Lack of Recreation Time In Seg - ICE standards require facilities to give detainees “recreation time” while in segregation. But at ECCF, detainees in disciplinary segregation were only given an hour per day outside their cell for showering, using the phone to speak with their attorney and recreation time.

Broken Toilets, Moldy Bathrooms – “We observed detainee bathrooms that were in poor condition, including mold and peeling paint on walls, floors, and showers and unusable toilets,” OIG inspectors wrote.

No Toiletries – ICE requires facilities to give federal detainees toiletry items including shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotion and soap. However, detainees reported never being given lotion or shampoo and never receiving any toiletries after intake. Inspectors’ review of the jail’s toiletry stock revealed that the facility had no lotion on hand and the housing units did not have any toiletry supplies to provide to detainees. Facility staff told inspectors that detainees need to purchase hygiene items through the commissary, which is in direct violation of ICE standards.

In their initial report, OIG inspectors cited several health and safety risks to detainees. Officials were particularly critical about the way the jail feeds its inmates.

Inspectors allegedly discovered:

• Open packages of raw chicken leaking blood all over refrigeration units
• Undated, moldy bread held for "indefinite periods"
• "Slimy and discolored" lunch meat stored without any labels
• "Foul-smelling and unrecognizable" hamburger patties

It wasn't just food that was posing health risks to the inmates, officials added. OIG inspectors also allegedly found:

• Leaking ceilings in detainee living areas
• Showers laced with mold and peeling paint
• Mattresses in such poor condition that detainees were using bed sheets to tie the seams together so the filling didn't come out
• Mesh cages added to glass enclosures inside housing areas to provide "outdoor" recreation for detainees

HERE'S WHAT'S BEING DONE: OFFICIALS

After DHS inspectors recommended an "immediate, full review" of the Essex County Correctional Facility, the following actions were taken, federal officials said.

• Multiple "contract discrepancy reports" were issued
• Food storage inventory was properly dated, documented and packaged
• The facility food services manager was immediately replaced by the food service contractor with a corporate, management-level, food services professional
• An ICE quality assurance coordinator has been assigned to conduct spot audits of the food service kitchen on a weekly basis to ensure compliance
• On a scheduled rotation, all ICE detainee housing units were emptied and thoroughly cleaned and disinfected using steam pressure-washers
• Repairs, reconditioning and painting of walls and ceilings, and hardware were completed throughout the housing units
• All detainee mattresses that had signs of wear were replaced

In their June 3 report, OIG officials offered the following progress updates for the Essex County Correctional Facility:

• “Since [July 24, 2018], the kitchen area remains well-organized and in a high state of cleanliness and good operating order.”
• “The current ECCF food service manager has removed certain items from the menu and enhanced the menu with items selected by ICE and other detainees through a food services survey.”
• “Since the OIG inspection, ICE has taken immediate action when citing the vendor for a deficiency, in accordance with the contract terms and conditions, by issuing a contract discrepancy report and deducting 10 percent of its housing invoice.”
• “A new policy has been implemented and it is now mandatory to document any strip-search performed.”
• “ECCF management has committed to examining the staffing and scheduling requirements that will provide a second, additional 1.5-hour period (within the same day) of recreation, showering and telephone time out of cell for ICE detainees in the SHU.”
• “ECCF management is investigating both on-and-off-site options to improve the outdoor recreation opportunities available.”
• “All bathroom shower stalls were renovated by installing fiberglass wall inserts, which have enhanced ECCF’s ability to keep stalls clean and sanitary.”
• “The ECCF added lotion and shampoo to the intake inventory for new detainees.”
• “The facility ordered additional uniforms during our visit to replenish smaller sizes that were out of stock.”

"The Essex County Correctional Facility has a proven track record of providing safe and secure conditions for its inmates and officers," Essex County Correctional Facility Director Al Ortiz told Patch after the DHS report was released in February.

"We understand the issues raised in the Inspector General's report and have taken steps to address and rectify the conditions," Ortiz said. "We are proud of our proactive approach to meet the needs of our detainees and the high standards of care that we have set for our facility."

PRISON, NOT PUNISHMENT

“All ICE detainees are held in civil, not criminal, custody, which is not supposed to be punitive,” OIG officials pointed out in their June report.

That distinction is especially relevant as an increasing number of ICE detainees find themselves waiting out deportation hearings at state and county prisons across the nation, including New Jersey.

In late May, acting in response to a “surge” in border arrivals, federal officials transferred 235 undocumented immigrants detained at the U.S.-Mexican border to jails in New Jersey and New York. Those people will be detained locally pending immigration proceedings, an ICE spokesperson said.

• See related article: 235 Undocumented Immigrants At Mexico Border Sent To NJ, NY

But that recent surge is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to housing detainees at the Essex County Correctional Facility and other New Jersey prisons, federal authorities said.

"ICE managing bed space nationwide and transfers from the border to interior field offices is not a new concept," ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Newark recently told NorthJersey.com.

The Essex County Correctional Facility can house up to 928 men in the custody of ICE. When inspectors visited in July 2018, roughly 216 Essex County Department of Corrections officers oversaw 797 male detainees.

Detainees with prior criminal histories were held in one of seven housing units with up to 64 cells holding two detainees per cell. Detainees with no criminal histories were held in one of seven open bay dormitories, each holding up to 60 detainees. In addition, a Special Management Unit contained eight cells for segregated detainees who had violated facility rules or requested to be separated from other detainees for their own safety.

• See related article: Here's What It's Like To Survive Solitary Confinement, NJ Inmates Say

FREE LAWYERS AND ‘BLOOD MONEY’

Local activists have been holding protests and decrying the county's contract with ICE for years, calling it "blood money."

"[Essex County] gets paid at $117 per day per detainee," a member of the American Friends Service Committee in Newark recently told NJ Spotlight. "That's a bit over $36 million dollars a year… Essex County anticipates $42.7 million payment from the contract in 2019. We don't have exact costs to maintain each bed, but it's possible the county makes a good $15 to 20 million in profit."

• See related article: Essex County's Prison Profits Will Continue Under Proposed Budget
• See related article: More Oversight, No ICE At Essex County Prison, Activists Demand

In March – responding to activists' demands – an Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholder committee announced that the county won't be nixing its controversial contract with ICE.

"Although there are strong opinions on whether we should keep this contract or not, it is my personal opinion that an immediate break of the contract will not result in detainees being released," Freeholder President Brendan Gill said.

It will, however, result in greater distance between the detainees, their families and their lawyers, Gill stated.

Essex County officials said that they plan to use $750,000 from the ICE contract to create a "legal services fund" to provide representation to ICE detainees at the Essex County Correctional Facility.

"We have always been committed to providing the best possible conditions for people being detained at our correctional facility," Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said. "This will ensure detainees have the legal representation they are entitled to."

• See related article: Essex County Plans To Use ICE Profits To Give Inmates Lawyers

According to county officials, the Essex County Correctional Facility – which opened in 2004 – has been accredited by the American Correctional Association, which has set standards for correctional facilities and detention centers in the United States, American territories and some foreign countries, since 2013. The prison has received 100 percent compliance with the New Jersey State Department of Corrections every year since 2006, and has been accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities since 2007.

Below video: A group of protesters opposing the ICE contract with Essex County attends the Board of Chosen Freeholders' final meeting of 2018.

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