What They Were Hiding: Increased Solitary Confinement In Immigrant Detention Facilities

Tracking what U.S. government agencies do not want the public to know when they try to thwart Freedom of Information Act requests

Screen shot from the report, "‘Endless Nightmare’: Torture and Inhuman Treatment in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Immigration Detention"

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For six years, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) committed secrecy abuses and fought requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for records that detailed the use of solitary confinement in immigrant detention facilities. 

A new report from Physicians for Human Rights, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Medical School called “‘Endless Nightmare’: Torture and Inhuman Treatment in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Immigration Detention” [PDF], shows that the two government agencies were hiding ICE’s increased placement of immigrants in isolation. 

The report also shines a light on the extent to which numerous detained immigrants endure cruel treatment. The average amount of time that an immigrant was found to spend in solitary confinement was 27 days. (United Nations experts have long maintained that isolation for more than 15 days amounts to torture.)

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