STEWART COUNTY, Georgia (WRBL) – According to a new report, several women have been sexually assaulted while being held at an immigrant detention facility in Lumpkin, Georgia.
The four women came forward in a formal 18-page legal complaint filed with the US Department of Homeland Security. They are assisted by legal counsel from the Southern Poverty Law Center and six advocacy groups. These organizations say these incidents are part of a long chain of abuse at the Stewart Detention Center.
The complaint alleges that four women were repeatedly sexually assaulted by a male nurse at the Stewart Detention Center. His name is blacked out in the report.
The Stewart Detention Center has been operated by CoreCivic since it opened in 2006. According to the most recent audits, Stewart was housing 398 men and 298 women, all of whom were being held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The report said that when two detainees reported the nurse’s behavior to CoreCivic and ICE employees, they were repeatedly threatened with both legal action and lengthy detention.
Ryan Gustin, CoreCivic’s director of public affairs, tells WRBL in part, “We unequivocally deny any allegations of threats or retaliation.”
The company’s mission statement is: “CoreCivic strives to provide quality and compassionate treatment to all of the people in our care.”
Amilcar Valencia, the director of El Refugio, a ministry that works with inmates and their families, says inmates have been reporting abuse or medical neglect for years.
“The reality is that ICE and CoreCivic have failed to protect the very same people that the government has assigned them to protect. They know that healthcare professionals are there to help people, not to harm them or do violence to them and their bodies.”
Of the 4 women who came forward, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (WRBL) said in part:
“Two allegations remain under investigation and ICE continues to follow all reasonable protocols for notification, reporting and investigative requirements. Any person – ICE employees or contractors – suspected of sexual abuse or assault will be promptly removed from contact with detainees pending the completion of the investigation.”
Spokesman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
ICE would not confirm to WRBL if the nurse named in the report is still employed at Stewart Detention Center.
The Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA, was introduced in 2003 when the United States’ first federal law to deter sexual assault on prisoners was enacted. This opened the door for PREA audits within the prison system.
The Stewart Detention Center passed the last audit of the PREA facility in May 2021, months before the alleged incidents. They completed the corrective actions in January 2022. The audit found 13 allegations of sexual abuse. Four of them were employees of prisoners. None of these led to criminal charges against employees.
“It happens in many prisons, it’s not an isolated problem. It’s not isolated or something that only happened with Stewart. The violence against them and against immigrants, against our communities, is very real.”
Amilcar Valencia – General Manager, El Refugio
Advocacy groups like the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights say they are calling for the Stewart Detention Center to be closed after years of “abuse, medical neglect and human rights abuses.”
Below is a copy of the 18-page complaint about the Stewart Detention Center.
