Detainees in California ICE Facilities Begin Labor and Hunger Strike.
Earlier this month, detainees at California Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities started a labor and hunger strike. They are protesting their conditions, including the use of solitary confinement. Recent research has highlighted the severe physical and psychological damage caused by solitary confinement in U.S. immigration detention centers.
Solitary Confinement Statistics
In the United States, over 122,000 people are held in solitary confinement daily, for 22 or more hours a day. In the past five years, ICE has placed detainees in solitary confinement over 14,000 times, often for months.
Human Rights Watch Condemnation
Human Rights Watch has condemned the use of solitary confinement in U.S. immigration detention centers.
Duration and Violations
From 2018 to 2023, the average duration of solitary confinement in ICE facilities was 27 days. In hundreds of cases, it lasted at least 90 days, and in 42 cases, it exceeded a year. This practice violates international standards, which prohibit prolonged or indefinite solitary confinement as a form of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
UN Standards on Solitary Confinement
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Méndez, concluded that solitary confinement beyond 15 days is a form of torture. Using solitary confinement on children and people with psychosocial disabilities also meets these criteria.
Impact on Mental Health
For detainees, solitary confinement often worsens the effects of past trauma. It can lead to deteriorating mental health, and detainees rarely receive proper or timely mental health care. Solitary confinement is linked to anxiety, depression, and psychosis. Even a few days in solitary can significantly increase the risk of suicide. A recent report documented dozens of preventable deaths in ICE detention, including suicides following solitary confinement.
Disproportionate Impact
ICE’s use of solitary confinement disproportionately affects people with psychosocial disabilities and African and Caribbean immigrants. Black immigrants are six times more likely to be placed in solitary confinement than non-Black immigrants.
Calls for Change
Immigration detention should only be a last resort. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for its gradual abolition. Solitary confinement is an extreme deprivation of rights that is disproportionate to any legitimate state interest in the context of immigration detention.
Conclusion
The U.S. should end the use of solitary confinement in immigration detention and work toward ending immigration detention altogether.