ABUSE AT GLADES
Toxic chemicals at Glades
Freedom for Immigrants’ monitoring work contributed to the findings of a disturbing investigative report published in Scientific American which reveals that officials at Glades routinely use toxic chemicals at highly dangerous levels, exposing immigrants held at the facility to severe health effects including damage to reproductive health.
The months-long investigation concluded that immigrants held at Glades are exposed to toxic, industrial-grade disinfectant chemicals containing quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), which are routinely showered into the air of crowded, unventilated spaces from sprayers at roughly 64 times the allowed strength. Internal emails reveal that Glades staff were not diluting a QAC-containing chemical to the highly reduced levels specified by its manufacturer’s EPA-regulated guidelines. A Glades County official wrote to others at the Glades County Sheriff's Office that the disinfectant was so thick that it was “clogging up the...sprayer.”
FFI, along with other organizations in the Shut Down Glades Coalition, filed two complaints to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in February and August of 2021, detailing the harmful effects of the chemicals.
Complaint: Women at Florida Immigration Detention Center File Federal Complaint Over Sexual and Medical Abuse, Toxic Chemical Spray, and Racist Treatment
Filed: August 26, 2021
COMPLAINT BACKGROUND:
Freedom for Immigrants supported seven immigrant women detained at Glades County Detention center in filing a complaint with federal officials, shedding light on an appalling pattern of abuses, including: sexual abuse by guards and a psychiatrist amounting to violations of the Prison Rape Elimination Acts (PREA); exposure to a highly toxic chemical spray; life-threatening medical neglect; violations of COVID-19 safety protocols; and racist and degrading treatment.
The women in the complaint reported threatening behavior at the facility, such as unannounced entries by male guards into their living area and sexual voyeurism by the guards who watch the women shower, which constitutes sexual abuse according to PREA and violations of ICE policy. Additionally, a psychiatrist is using his authority to sexually harass immigrant women at the facility, according to several of the women in the complaint.
The women also reported a myriad of disturbing health abuses including regular exposure to a class of toxic, industrial-grade disinfectant spray. The chemical, HDQ Neutral, is linked to harmful health effects and infertility. Immigrants detained at GCDC can’t escape the “gray clouds” of the chemical as it’s sprayed in unventilated rooms, leading to headaches, coughing, and difficulty breathing. “Last night, they were spraying a chemical, and it’s not fair,” said one woman in the complaint who chose to remain anonymous due to ICE’s pattern of retaliation. “Yesterday, we were coughing a lot because we couldn’t take the vapor and smell of the chemical.”
Complaint: Excessive Force & Retaliatory Use of Solitary Confinement
Filed: March 3, 2021
COMPLAINT BACKGROUND:
Freedom for Immigrants has been actively monitoring Glades County Detention Center for years, and through the work of the national visitation network, began visiting Glades in January 2020.
Most recently, Freedom for Immigrants and Immigrant Action Alliance filed a federal complaint in March 2021 regarding retaliation and abuse against two Black men in Glades—Kevin Louis Brown and Kemar Dwayne Williams.
Both men participated in a federal complaint filed by Freedom for Immigrants and eight other organizations in February 2021. The February complaint was filed on behalf of 25 people who gave testimony describing “a persistent pattern” of medical abuse, lack of hygienic supplies, lack of COVID-19 testing, lack of releases despite Covid-19 risk factors, retaliation, hospitalizations, deaths, disappearances, and spraying of toxic chemicals.
COMPLAINANTS
After being identified in the February complaint, Kevin and Kemar were assaulted, pepper sprayed, and thrown into solitary confinement, spurring Freedom for Immigrants to file the second complaint in March.
Kevin Louis Brown with members of his family.
Freedom for Immigrants and the men’s families are extremely concerned about both men’s wellbeing. Both men have pre-existing medical conditions that place them at heightened risk for COVID-19 and qualify them for medical release. However, their applications requesting release have gone ignored. This incident and the experience of both men is part of a larger pattern and practice at Glades in which people experience medical abuse, are retaliated against for speaking out, and—despite having viable claims for release on medical grounds—are denied requests for release.
ICE claims that as of March 4 there are only two active cases of COVID-19 in the entire facility. Detained individuals directly contradict this claim, reporting that one dorm with approximately 60 people is currently under a 14-day quarantine but that no one has been tested for COVID-19. ICE must act quickly to release Mr. Brown, Mr. Williams, and everyone else who is medically vulnerable in their custody.