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Investigative Report on Immigration Detention Released Today, Sept. 18, 2019
CCDC wants to thank the ACLU of Colorado for your groundbreaking (and heart breaking) expose. We are proud to partner with this great organization and with CREEC who is also doing this work and look forward to working with anyone interested to assure that immigrants and asylum seekers with disabilities are treated fairly and humanely.
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Rachel Pryor-Lease <rpryor-lease@aclu-co.org>
Date: Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 10:52 AM
Subject: Investigative report on immigration detention released today
To: Julie Reiskin <jreiskin@ccdconline.org>
Today marks the release of our investigative report about the GEO immigration detention facility in Aurora: Cashing in on Cruelty: Stories of Death, Abuse and Neglect at the GEO Immigration Detention Facility in Aurora.
The report is based on a nine-month ACLU of Colorado investigation, which included a lawsuit against ICE under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for records about Mr. Samimi’s death and interviews with dozens of victims of mistreatment. The investigation revealed numerous stories of medical incompetence, dental neglect, inadequate mental healthcare, lack of accommodations for detainees with disabilities, as well as substandard care that contributed to the suffering and death of Kamyar Samimi, a Lawful Permanent Resident for more than 40 years.
Cashing in on Cruelty provides a set of recommendations to improve state and local policy, including increased oversight and accountability of ACDF, divesting from investments in private detention operators like GEO, funding for legal counsel and bond money for detainees and limiting local cooperation with ICE. The policy brief enumerates ways that Colorado cities, counties and the state should respond to the expansion of private immigration detention centers to improve conditions of confinement and reduce the number of people who end up separated from their families and communities or worse — dead.
Read the report and learn more, including actions to take and know your rights information at: https://www.allarewelcomeco.org/.
As a reminder, we are having an informal breakfast this Friday, September 20th from 8:30-10am to hear from the staff that worked on the report, as well as learn more about our next steps. Please let me know if you would like to join us.
Thank you for your support, so that we can continue to do this critical work.
Best,
Rachel
Rachel Pryor-Lease
(Pronouns: she/her/hers)
Director of Philanthropy
American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado
303 E. 17th Ave., Suite 350
Denver, CO 80203-1256
(720) 402-3105
Because Freedom Can’t Protect Itself
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P.S. Please join us at our annual Bill of Rights Dinner on Thursday, September 26th at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Denver. For tickets and more information, visit: https://aclu-co.org/events/bill-of-rights-dinner/.
