Editor’s note: The following is from a press release issued by La Resistencia. La Resistencia is a grassroots organization in Washington state led by undocumented people in solidarity with detainees at Northwest Detention Center, fighting for the closing of the facility and an end to all detentions and deportations.
Tacoma, Washington – A group of between forty and fifty detained migrants at the now-infamous Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) announced the start of a hunger strike Dec. 2 in protest of conditions inside the privately-owned detention center, demanding an end to the contract between ICE and private profiteers GEO Group
The hunger strike, the 13th at NWDC in 2024 so far, is taking place across four dormitories. The hunger strikers have released the following list of demands to explain their action:
- End the contract between GEO Group and ICE, “because there’s no humane way to run this place.”
- End solitary confinement. ”It’s physical and psychological torture, and they use it for the smallest infractions here.”
- Stop violating their own standards, “as laid out in the book of national standards for detention centers.” The detainees demand:
- Adequate medical and mental healthcare.
- Nutritious food (unexpired and unspoiled).
- (Resuming) Contact visits.
- Recreational hours outdoors. “We’re entitled to 4 per day, but they only give us one.”
- Stop retaliating when we complain about violations of the policy.
- Free phone calls and an end to gouging for commissary items.
- “Calls are extremely expensive. We shouldn’t be charged for having calls with our attorneys, families, and community.”
- “We want them to stop selling food and basic items at three times the price for the same goods outside.”
- Real custody reviews by ICE at 90 and 180 days.
The hunger strikers’ demands reaffirm various violations of human rights and detention standards denounced in previous hunger strikes and documented by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) – including spoiled food and poor hygiene. Furthermore, per the UWCHR, “ICE’s own data shows that Tacoma’s Northwest Detention Center detained people longer, on average, in solitary confinement than any other dedicated ICE facility in the nation.”
The university center’s most recent report shows that immigrants detained at NWDC are “less likely to be granted bond, more likely to pay higher bonds and spend longer times in detention than the national average.” As the last demand in the hunger strikers’ list makes clear, ICE consistently fails to update detained migrants on their cases, leaving them at NWDC for indefinite periods of time.
The urgency of hunger strikers’ demands, and the indifference of GEO Group and ICE, is underscored by a string of fires that has broken out at the prison this year. On Saturday November 30, volunteers for La Resistencia and allied organizations witnessed a fire raging on one side of NWDC. This is the second such fire witnessed by the organization in a year, following a previous one that took place on March 14th. In both instances, GEO Group failed to evacuate detained migrants and visitors, instead leaving them in harm’s way and ignorant of the unfolding danger.
La Resistencia first became aware of the fire at around 2:20 PM. At around that time, a flurry of emergency vehicles arrived at the detention center. Volunteers for the organization counted between ten and twelve vehicles, with emergency call logs confirming the count. Among the vehicles were five fire trucks and one ambulance, which exited the facility with one person on board at 2:57 PM. GEO Group has not made any comments about who the person was or their condition.
While the fire raged, however, those detained inside NWDC were not evacuated. Instead, they were ordered to go back to their cells. La Resistencia volunteers were able to see and talk to a group of detained migrants during their outdoors yard time. All denied knowing or being told anything about a fire.
The reaction to Saturday’s fire echoes GEO Group’s actions during the previous, March 14 fire incident. La Resistencia witnessed that fire due to being in NWDC’s vicinity as part of our encampment to demand justice following the death of 61-year old Charles Leo Daniel a week prior, on March 7. As we wrote in a press release describing the event, “During the time that the fire raged, starting at around 5:30 PM, GEO Group did not evacuate any detainees. In fact, those who were scheduled to leave the prison were pushed back inside rather than taken out.”
The hunger strike and the fire also took place less than a week following the theft of a memorial plaque dedicated to Charles Leo Daniel, placed by La Resistencia outside NWDC. The plaque was created in collaboration between the immigrant-led organization, University of Washington-Tacoma, and Monument Lab. It read, “Held in solitary confinement at the NW Detention Center for four years despite suffering from mental illness. NWDC holds people in solitary confinement longer than any other ICE facility in the U.S.,” after the details of Mr. Daniel’s birth and passing.
