Dozens Protest At Hudson County Jail After Immigrant Dies (PHOTOS)

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, the 44-year-old undocumented immigrant and detainee who died while in custody earlier this month was a Salvadoran national named “Carlos Mejia-Bonilla.”

But in reality, the man that died at Jersey City Medical Center while in ICE custody on June 10 was a 35-year-old Honduran immigrant named “Rolando Meza Espinoza,” according to his family.

This case of mistaken identity is just one of many problems facing undocumented immigrants who find themselves arrested by ICE and jailed in Hudson County, civil rights activists say.

On Monday, following Espinoza’s death, dozens of activists gathered for a rally in his memory at the Kearny facility, a county jail that also contracts to house hundreds of men and women in ICE custody.

Protesting conditions at the jail that allegedly contributed to Espinoza’s death, as well as “the continuing failure of Hudson County to fulfill its legal obligations,” the throngs of activists pledged to use Espinoza’s tragic passing as a way to bring the direness of the situation to light. Many held signs that decried the prison industry and Hudson County’s profiteering from ICE detention contracts.

INTERNAL BLEEDING AND HEMORRHAGIC SHOCK

Espinoza’s family and attorney told the New York Daily News that the father of three suffered from several chronic illnesses, including cirrhosis of the liver, anemia and diabetes.

While detained at the Hudson County Correctional Facility after his arrest on April 1, Espinoza experienced “gastrointestinal bleeding” and was taken to Jersey City Medical Center on June 8, said the family’s lawyer, Manuel Portela.

He never left the hospital, Portela said.

According to Portela, Espinoza was only being medicated for diabetes - not anemia or cirrhosis - despite asking a nurse for additional medications. He died from “internal bleeding and hemorrhagic shock” two days after he went into intensive care, Portela told the Daily News.

Read the full article here.

Espinoza’s case isn’t the only recent allegation of medical mistreatment the Hudson County Correctional Facility has faced.

A civil rights complaint filed by two local civil rights groups with the Department of Homeland Security in 2016 alleged that the jail is one of the worst detention sites in New Jersey, the New York Times reported.

According to a 2016 study conducted by the Detention Watch Network, which interviewed people detained under ICE custody at the facility, inspectors found “delays in medical care, inconsistencies with medical records and subsequent treatment, and inappropriate responses to health needs.”

• Read the coalition’s full report on the Hudson County Correctional Facility here.

GETTING PAID FOR PRISONERS

A 2002 intergovernmental service agreement between Hudson County and the U.S. Department of Justice states that the county will provide “detention space and services” for 384 federal prisoners/detainees, including 128 in U.S. Marshals Service custody and 256 in Immigration and Naturalization custody, for a period of 15 years.

In the 2002 agreement, ICE increased the rate the federal agency paid for each of its detainees from $77 to $90 per day.

• See related article: Time For Hudson County To Sever Ties With ICE, Activists Say
• See related article: Embattled West Caldwell Prison Company Keeps Getting N.J. Contracts
• See related article: 1 In 10 New Jersey Inmates Will Likely Die In Jail, Report Says

Send local news tips, photos and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Main photo: Eytan Stern Weber

Additional photos: Jawaid Stationwala