Whistleblower Alleges Grave Harms at ICE Detention Center

by Erika Suzanne

The week of September 15th, multiple news sources, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, reported that a privately-owned ICE detention center in Georgia was violating CDC-imposed guidelines for COVID-19 spread prevention and performing forced sterilization on female detainees without knowledgeable and expressed consent. In a whistleblower report submitted by Project South, Dawn Wooten, a practical nurse at the facility, discloses staggering instances of disregard for public health and the lack of informed consent when performing hysterectomies on non-English-speaking detainees. 

Informed consent is the permission granted with the full knowledge of the possible consequences that their actions entail. In this case, a patient would give approval to a doctor for treatment with comprehension of the possible risks and benefits. 

In the report, Wooten describes the bleak conditions within the detention center. The center not only fails to meet COVID-19 specific safety standards, but there is also a pattern of retaliation for voicing complaints, inadequate medical and mental health care, deficient COVID-19 testing and reporting, under reporting of positive COVID-19 cases, and knowingly allowing close interaction between COVID-19 positive patients and members of the general detainee population. 

This is not the first time that this detention center has garnered attention for its inhumane treatment of detainees. In their 2017 report titled ‘Imprisoned Justice’, Project South found multiple instances of neglect, inconsistent care, and unsanitary conditions. The most disturbing observation was, “in the medical examination rooms, floors and patient examination tables were dirty and dust was observed on horizontal surfaces”. Meaning, that when detainees did receive care, it was also perilous. Despite these allegations, this detention center has been allowed to continue operation and admittance of detainees. 

Both the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the accused doctor, Dr. Ada Rivera, have denied the allegations of any wrongdoing put forth by Dawn Wooten and Project South.