"Free Us": ICE Prison Hunger Strike Hits Day 5
Over 200 male prisoners continue strike at massive Michigan ICE prison; one male prisoner was hospitalized with seizures. "They are being starved and systematically denied medical care."
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A hunger strike launched by over 200 male prisoners at ICE’s North Lake Detention Center in Michigan continued into its fifth day on Friday as prisoners protest horrid conditions and 75 religious leaders are set to launch a solidarity fast.
Multiple sources told Status Coup that the male prisoners at the largest ICE prison in the Midwest are holding firm in their hunger strike despite retaliation by ICE guards—including restricting incoming and outgoing phone calls, restricting prisoners’ commissary funds to make phone calls, and recreational time. The for-profit prison is currently holding 1,400 prisoners.
Status Coup also learned that earlier in the week, a male prisoner was hospitalized after suffering severe seizures inside the ICE prison. His condition is unknown at this time.
Striking prisoners have issued a list of seven demands:
ICE officials explain on what legal basis they are being unjustly held.
ICE review each prisoners case and circumstances and grant parole (as has been done in the past). The prisoners feel they should not have to rely on immigration judges, who they deem as not neutral.
Quicker decisions from ICE; prisoners are currently waiting on average 120 days.
Better quality food and nutrition. Prisoners are going hungry and employees of for-profit prison operator GEO group routinely throw food away. Prisoners are only receiving protein once a week and many are having allergic reactions.
Improved prison uniforms: prisoners are receiving clothes that make them itchy and cause allergic reactions. They don’t know what chemicals GEO Group is using to clean the clothes.
End arbitrary rules and abrupt changes. Prison recently implemented a new 6 a.m headcount without any notice.
Regular sleep: Prisoners are kept up all night due to guards playing their radios loud and other noise keeping them up.
Beyond the striking male prisoners, female prisoners held in a different wing of the prison held up “SOS” signs in the window; in phone calls with loved ones, they’ve desperately begged to “free us.”
Seventy-five Michigan religious leaders are set to launch a solidarity fast on Monday, April 27th, to support the striking prisoners.
“Roughly 1,400 human beings are being caged in deplorable conditions in Baldwin, Michigan,” Rev. Nathan Dannison of Grand Rapids’ Fountain Street Church said. “They are being starved and systematically denied critical medical care. This is unconscionable - and every one of these people is a living icon of God.”
Imam Steve Mustapha Elturk condemned the inhumane treatment of prisoners.
“We are all human, and our faith traditions affirm the dignity and equality of every person, principles also enshrined in America’s founding ideals. Yet detainees report being treated inhumanely, contradicting both religious values and constitutional protections, including the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process for all persons.”
Attorneys for prisoners are entering the prison today to gather more information about the strike, ongoing retaliation, and other reports they’ve received of prisoners sufferring medical emergencies—and lack of prompt emergency medical response inside the prison.
As Status Coup previously reported, over a dozen female prisoners have filed a Habeas Corpus petition over physical and psychological abuse they’ve suffered—in ICE field offices they were detained in and inside North Lake Detention Center.
In the petition, one female prisoner recounted being starved and physically beaten.
“For 20 days I was starving, they only fed me snacks…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.”
Status Coup will continue reporting on the hunger strike. If you have information, email us at info@statuscoup.com.
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Cruelty is always the point. Shame on this country.
This is nothing more than illegally, inhumanly, unconstitutionally imprisoning individuals w/o due process. The owner is becoming wealthier on our dollar while these individuals don’t receive the requirement to survive. Disgusting & unnecessary.
This regime only care about themselves & their wealth