Owner of Adelanto Detention Center says corrective actions have been taken in wake of scathing report

Corrective action has been taken at Adelanto Detention Center in the wake of a scathing federal report that found numerous nooses fashioned from bedsheets hanging in cells and inadequate medical care for immigration detainees, according to the company that owns the facility.

Adelanto warden James Janecka, who is employed by Florida-based GEO Group Inc., the owner and operator of the center, said in a Sept. 6 letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that the safety of detainees and staff is paramount.

“We continually strive to resolve concerns and implement corrective actions that strengthen our processes and produce sustained compliance with all contract requirements,” the letter said. “We are committed to providing high-quality care to ICE detainees.”

In May, officials with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General made a surprise visit to the High Desert facility in Adelanto, which houses 1,659 detainees and has 307 contract guards.

Inspectors, in an 18-page report released last week, said they identified serious issues relating to safety, detainee rights and medical care that required ICE’s immediate attention.

In one instance, inspectors found nooses made from braided bedsheets hanging from vents in 15 cells.

Discovery of the nooses comes in the aftermath of one detainee’s suicide last year and seven suicide attempts  from December 2016 to October 2017.

In his letter, Janecka explained that what was described in the report as nooses were actually sheets hung by detainees to provide privacy when using toilet facilities.

Adelanto’s staff has been instructed to remove any improvised curtains and that any clotheslines, blankets or towels that block sleeping areas are also prohibited, he said.

Inspectors also said they found 14 Adelanto detainees placed in disciplinary segregation before they were found guilty of rules violations.

Janecka said detainees are placed in segregation on a “case-by-case basis” through an official approval process and only when they pose a danger to themselves, staff or other detainees.

He acknowledged, in some cases, that disciplinary paperwork had not been filed in timely fashion and detainees were in segregation while their investigations were pending, a deficiency that has been corrected.

“With this corrective action plan in place, timelines will be met and each detainee’s status in the disciplinary  process will be readily discernible,” Janecka wrote in the letter.

Investigators also found that Adelanto detainees were improperly handcuffed and shackled while in disciplinary segregation.

Janecka responded that segregated detainees are handcuffed before they are moved by guards. “This is sound correctional practice to prevent self-injury, injury to others or property damage,” he wrote in the letter.

Inspectors also found that detainees with disabilities or limited English proficiency were not provided segregation orders translated into their native languages.

Adelanto’s staff uses the center’s “language line,” a service that connects them by phone with interpreters, and detainees with visual impairments have all documents read to them, Janecka said.

Efforts also have been taken to address delayed and inadequate medical care noted in the inspectors’ report,  Janecka said.

“Telemedicine, dental screenings and mental health evaluations will be conducted in satellite offices to streamline operations within the main health services unit to reduce patient backlog and increase efficiency,” he stated in the letter.

Some of the inspectors’ findings, lacked appropriate context or were based on incomplete information, said Pablo E. Paez, a spokesman for Geo Group, which owns 139 correctional, detention and community re-entry facilities.

“It’s important to note that in some instances, the report failed to consider all aspects related to the implementation of the federal government’s Performance-Based National Detention Standards,” Paez said in a statement. “Our employees have taken pride in our ability to provide quality services in safe, secure and humane environments for those entrusted to our care, and these findings of inadequacies are not consistent with our core values.”