Adelanto Detention Center

From 1991 Adelanto was a state prison for adult male inmates. The GEO Group purchased the facility in 2010 and in May 2011, contracted with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to house federal immigration detainees.{{cite web|url=http://m.ice.gov/detention-facilities/facilities/adlntca.htm |title=Adelanto Detention Facility |accessdate=March 3, 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303045514/http://m.ice.gov/detention-facilities/facilities/adlntca.htm |archivedate=March 3, 2014 }}{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/03/politics/immigrant-detention-adelanto-oig-report/index.html|title=Inspectors found nooses hanging in cells at an ICE detention facility|last=Shoichet|first=Catherine E.|date=October 3, 2018|work=CNN|access-date=14 December 2018}} Based on the agreement, the center must comply with ICE’s 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards, which establish requirements for environmental health and safety, detainee care, activities, and grievance system. The GEO Group also receives a fee of up to about $112 per day per detainee from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with the city of Adelanto serving as a go-between.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-adelanto-detention-20170808-story.html|title='We don't feel OK here': Detainee deaths, suicide attempts and hunger strikes plague California immigration facility|date=August 8, 2017|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|last=Esquivel|first=Paloma|access-date=2018-12-14}} This used a complicated subcontracting model so ICE and Adelanto didn't need to award the contract for the center’s operations using competitive bidding as required under Federal regulations.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/12/california-private-prison-ban-immigration-ice|title=California bans private prisons – including Ice detention centers|last=BondGraham|first=Darwin|date=2019-09-12|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-09-13|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}

In 2016, the city of Adelanto extended the company’s contract until 2021.{{Cite news|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/adelanto-death-immigration-detention-geo/|title=In 3 months, 3 immigrants have died at this private detention center|work=Mother Jones|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-14}}

The prison, ICE's newest and largest in California,{{cite news|url=http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/25/an-immigrants-dream-detained/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0|title=An Immigrant's Dream, Detained|newspaper=The New York Times|accessdate=3 May 2016}} was the scene of small immigration protests in November 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.sbsun.com/general-news/20131125/protesters-decry-unjust-treatment-at-adelanto-detention-facility |title=Protesters decry 'unjust' treatment at Adelanto detention facility |publisher=Sbsun.com |date=2013-11-25 |accessdate=2016-05-03}}{{cite web|url=http://blog.pe.com/multicultural-empire/2013/11/25/adelanto-protest-at-immigration-detention-center/ |title=ADELANTO: Protest at immigration detention center |accessdate=March 3, 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303035526/http://blog.pe.com/multicultural-empire/2013/11/25/adelanto-protest-at-immigration-detention-center/ |archivedate=March 3, 2014 }}

Since its opening as an ICE detention center in 2011, Adelanto Detention Facility has faced accusations of insufficient medical care and poor conditions. Because of the poor conditions, in July 2015, 29 members of Congress sent a letter to ICE and federal inspectors requesting an investigation addressing their concerns. Later that year in November, 400 detainees went on a hunger strike, to demand better medical and dental care.

In May 2018, government inspectors from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made a surprise visit to the detention center where 307 contract guards oversaw 1,659 immigrant detainees housed in different facilities around the center. Inspectors found multiple violations of ICE detention standards which posed significant health and safety risks for detainees and restricted detainees' rights. The violations found were: nooses in detainee cells, inappropriate segregation including misuse of solitary confinement, improperly handcuffed and shackled, and detainees with limited English lacked communication assistance; and untimely and inadequate detainee medical care.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of six detainees with medical conditions due to inadequate sanitation and beds placed too close together. These conditions provided an “ideal incubation” opportunity for coronavirus.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ocregister.com/coronavirus-lawsuit-conditions-for-immigrant-detainees-in-adelanto-ideal-for-disease|title=Coronavirus lawsuit: Conditions for immigrant detainees in Adelanto 'ideal' for disease|date=2020-03-31|website=Orange County Register|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-31}}

Hernandez v. Sessions is a class action lawsuit filed in April 2016 by the ACLU and pro bono lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Lead plaintiffs in the case were non-citizens who were detained at Adelanto Detention Facility due to their inability to afford the bond set by immigration officials. In October 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s order granting a classwide preliminary injunction in favor the plaintiffs. The Hernandez decision is the first court case to impose due process requirements in the immigration context and requires ICE officers and immigration judges to consider a person's financial ability to post bond and suitability for non-monetary alternative conditions of supervision when considering the conditions of release.{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2018/04/30/ninth-circuit-win-garners-bail-hearings-for-immigrant-detainees/|title=Fighting for Bond Hearings for Detainees|last1=April 30|first1=Rich Acello {{!}}|last2=AM|first2=2018 at 02:00|website=National Law Journal|access-date=2018-12-14}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.aclu.org/other/practice-advisory-bond-hearing-and-ability-pay-determinations|title=Practice Advisory: Bond Hearing and Ability-to-Pay Determinations|website=American Civil Liberties Union|language=en|access-date=2018-12-14}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.ice.gov/detention-facility/adelanto-ice-processing-center Adelanto Processing Center] from Immigration and Customs Enforcement

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Category:Prisons in California

Category:Buildings and structures in San Bernardino County, California

Category:GEO Group

Category:Immigration detention centers and prisons in the United States

Category:2011 establishments in California

Category:Prisons completed in the 2010s