At Camp East Montana, in Texas, a coalition of organizations have launched a class-action lawsuit with four detainees named as plaintiffs suing on behalf of themselves and everyone imprisoned in the largest detainment facility in the U.S. We have featured descriptions by detainees of the horrific abuses they have experienced at Camp East Montana before in this newsletter. The allegations in the complaint paint yet another truly horrifying picture.
As quoted by the Guardian, the lawsuit alleges: “[a]bhorrent medical and mental health care”; “inappropriate use of force”; “indiscriminate use of solitary confinement”; “terrible, rotten, spoiled and inadequate” food; “outbreaks of disease”; “unsanitary living conditions”; “sexual harassment by guards.”
ICE spokespeople categorically deny any wrongdoing or prisoner abuse, a position which seems ever more out of step with all of the available evidence (and remember, ICE often lies). Even in their denials, they were forced to admit the measles outbreak that occurred in the camp earlier this year.