ICE Immigrant Detainee Dies In NJ: Prisoner Death Toll Increases

Newark, NJ - A Honduran native became the eighth prisoner to die while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody during fiscal year 2016 when he passed away on Monday, authorities say.

According to an ICE news release, Luis Alonso Fino Martinez, 54, was taken from the Essex County Detention Facility in New Jersey to University Hospital in Newark via ambulance on June 13.

He was pronounced dead at the hospital later that day, authorities stated.

ICE officials said that Martinez’s preliminary cause of death was “unknown” pending an autopsy.

Martinez entered ICE custody in June of 2015 from Northern State Prison in Newark after serving a prison term for felony convictions of weapons possession and attempted murder, authorities said.

Martinez’s immigration case was under appeal at the time of his death, ICE officials stated.

ICE officials said that the agency is working with Honduran consular officials to notify his family in Honduras.

In addition to the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, ICE also houses its New Jersey prisoners at Bergen County Jail, Delaney Hall Detention Facility, Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility, Hudson County Correctional Facility and Monmouth County Correctional Institution, the agency’s website states.

DEATH TOLL INCREASES

So far, more prisoners have died while in ICE custody than any year since 2008, when eight people passed away, The Washington Examiner reported.

Seven ICE detainees died while in custody in 2015, three died in 2014, and seven died in 2013, the Examiner wrote.

Government records state that 159 people have now died while in ICE custody over the last 13 years, the Latin Post reported.

According to ICE news releases, other deaths in fiscal year 2016 include:

• June 1 – Juan Luis BochPaniagua, 36, from Guatemala, died at Ochsner Medical Center (OMC) in Jefferson, Louisiana. The cause of death was believed to be liver failure.
• May 1 - Igor Zyazin, 46, from Russia, died at Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, California. Paramedics were called to the center after facility personnel found Zyazin unresponsive in his bunk.
• April 28 - Jose Leonardo Lemus Rajo, 23, from El Salvador, died at Kendall Regional Medical Center in Miami, Florida. The suspected cause of death was complications as a result of alcohol withdrawal.
• April 7 - Rafael Barcenas-Padilla, 50, from Mexico, died at Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, from apparent complications of pneumonia.
• March 17 - Thongchay Saengsiri, 65, from Laos, died at LaSalle General Hospital in Jena, Louisiana, after suffering a heart attack.
• Jan. 20 - Saul Enrique Banegas-Guzman, 46, from Honduras, died at Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria, Louisiana, with a preliminary cause of death listed as cardiac arrest.
• Dec. 19 - Jose Manuel Azurida-Hernandez, 54, from Guatemala died at St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California, after suffering a heart attack.

‘SWEPT UNDER THE RUG’

In a joint report titled Fatal Neglect: How ICE Ignores Deaths in Detention, multiple civil rights organizations claim that “egregious violations of ICE medical care standards” played a prominent role in eight deaths in immigration detention facilities from 2010 to 2012.

“Our research shows that even though ICE conducted reviews that identified violations of medical standards as contributing factors in these deaths, routine ICE detention facility inspections before and after the deaths failed to acknowledge - or at times dismissed - these violations,” states the report, a joint effort of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Detention Watch Network and the National Immigrant Justice Center.

“Instead of forcing changes in culture, systems, and processes that could reduce future deaths, ICE’s deficient inspections system essentially swept the agency’s own death review findings under the rug,” the report states.

“In the case of Pablo Gracida-Conte, who was detained at Arizona’s Eloy Detention Center [in 2011], ICE’s death review concluded that his death ‘might have been prevented’ if he had received ‘the appropriate medical treatment in a timely manner,’” the report charges.

“The ICE death review also found that Eloy had been operating without a clinical director for years, the medical clinic was understaffed, and Eloy’s doctor reported that she ‘badly needs help.’ Nevertheless, routine ICE inspections both before and after Mr. Gracida’s death concluded that medical staffing was adequate.”

In their report, the civil rights groups made four recommendations to avoid future prisoner deaths:

• Immediately reduce immigration detention
• Improve delivery of medical care in detention
• Ensure inspections provide meaningful oversight
• Increase transparency of inspections, deaths, and serious medical incidents in detention

Read the full report here.

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

Photo: Essex County Correctional Facility

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