EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of Prisoners Launch Hunger Strike at Largest ICE Prison in Midwest

SC learned of hunger strike at Michigan's North Lake Detention Center: "I peed on myself when they were beating me," female prisoner wrote in Habeas corpus petition SC obtained

Status Coup has been reporting ON THE GROUND covering Trump’s ICE TERROR for nearly a year in LA, NYC, Alligator Alcatraz, Chicago, Charlotte, & Minneapolis. PLEASE SUPPORT this important reporting for as low as $5 bucks a month:

Status Coup has exclusively learned that a hunger strike has launched inside one of the largest ICE prisons in the midwest currently imprisoning approximately 1,400 immigrants under horrid conditions.

At this point, approximately 200 male prisoners at Michigan’s North Lake Detention Center have begun their strike in the ICE prison located in rural Baldwin, Michigan. The prison is owned by controversial for-profit prison operator GEO Group. At the time of publishing this story, it’s unknown if female prisoners will be joining the strike. Prisoners hail from a variety of origin countries including Venezuela and Ecuador.

Multiple sources told Status Coup that the prisoners launching the strike are being detained in multiple units, called pods, and are begging for help as they suffer through horrid conditions including:

• Freezing temperatures

• Only one thin blanket provided; prisoners have to purchase additional blankets and sweatshirts out of their prison commissary account.

• Insufficient medical care: prisoners are unable to get the treatment they need or see specialists for certain conditions. Regardless of medical symptoms, prisoners are only receiving Tylenol or Ibuprofen.

• Doctors and guards don’t speak the language prisoners speak (and insufficient number and quality of translators).

• If prisoners arrive at medical unit early in morning, they don’t get seen that day.

• Guards using racist language toward prisoners

• Prisoners getting paid $1 dollar a day to work jobs in kitchen, laundry rom, etc.

• Prisoners’ work pay often delayed

Making matters worse, multiple sources told Status Coup that local hospitals and doctors are not offering medical care to the ICE prison due to concerns over GEO Group’s operations and treatment of prisoners.

GEO Group did not answer Status Coup’s specific questions about the conditions inside this ICE prison and provided a general statement (read at the end of this story).

In 2025, the for-profit prison operator saw a staggering 695 percentage increase in profit—earning $254.4 million in profit compared to $32 million in 2024.

The cash surge came from President Trump’s surge in ICE prisons and prisoners—showering GEO Group with cash. Status Coup has previously reported on ICE prisoners at the Dilley Detention Center in Texas—which is imprisoning hundreds of children—having to pay nearly $40 dollars for a 10-pack of bottled water (watch that report below). Without the bottled water, prisoners are provided contaminated water.

Over a dozen female prisoners, housed in a different unit inside the ICE prison, have filed a Habeas corpus petition, sounding the alarm about the horrid conditions they are enduring, physical abuse they’ve sufferred, human rights abuses, and constitutional violations.

Status Coup has obtained the petition and are posting some of the pages from it below (with redactions to protect prisoner identities).

We have also highlighted certain parts of one female prisoners’ handwritten account of physical abuse and starvation she endured at the local ICE field office she was held at for nearly three weeks before being transferred to North Lake Detention Center.

She believes she was beaten as a result of her sexual orientation—and described being beaten so severely she urinated on herself.

(Read documents below and here are are some key parts of her recounting this abuse)

“For 20 days I was starving, they only fed me snacks”

"I came to the US from Venezuela looking for freedom and justice."

"Where I'm detained at North Lake Processing Center I feel lost and still having nightmares and scared."

“In those weeks they didn’t let me take a shower. I was smelling horrible. Remember I peed on myself when they were beating me.”

"An agent said you have a right to call a lawyer but were not going to help you."

"She gave me a sandal and said I can keep it until I leave and she started laughing and said that's if you leave."

"Most times I was afraid to sleep thinking someone is going to come and abuse me."

“Old man hitting me with such hate I believe they were mad at me & treated me so bad is because of my sexual orientation (I have a big LGBT flag in the back of my window in car)”

“They made me stay there until the bruises of my face & broken nose and mouth disappeared.”

Read statement provided to Status Coup by GEO Group:

“We are proud of the role our company has played for 40 years to support the law enforcement mission of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Over the last four decades, our innovative support service solutions have helped the federal government implement the policies of seven different Presidential Administrations.

In all instances, our support services are monitored by ICE, including by on-site agency personnel, and other organizations within the Department of Homeland Security to ensure compliance with ICE’s detention standards and contract requirements regarding the treatment and services ICE detainees receive. In the event issues are identified, we quickly resolve all of ICE’s concerns as required by ICE’s Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan.

The support services GEO provides include around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation, general and legal library access, translation services, dietician-approved meals, religious and specialty diets, recreational amenities, and opportunities to practice their religious beliefs. Additionally, all of GEO’s ICE Processing Centers are independently accredited by the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

At locations where GEO provides health care services, individuals are provided with access to teams of medical professionals including physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Ready access to off-site medical specialists, imaging facilities, Emergency Medical Services, and local community hospitals is also provided when needed.”