I got this bulletin from the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee:
NJCRDC continues to document horrible conditions at Passaic County Jail. Like
Heq Sung Soo, many other detainees there are systematically denied appropriate medical care. They sleep in containers on the floor due to overcrowding. They are physically and mentally abused by jail guards and officials. Although the use of dogs to terrorize and torture has stopped, no one responsible has been prosecuted, and reports of beatings and abuse continue...
We call for an immediate investigation of all parties involved in Mr. Heq Sung
Soo's death. We call for an immediate termination of ICE's contract with Passaic County Jail...
Read NJCRDC's full statement
I agree that there should be an investigation. The NJCRDC hasn't specified how Mr. Soo may have been abused or denied treatment, however. Here's part of the Statement from Passaic County Jail:
On Wednesday, February 16, 2005, at approximately 8:45, INS detainee Heq Sung Soo [DOB 2/13/54 (age 50) Korean Male] hanged himself in
the Passaic County Jail.
Soo arrived at the jail on January 14, 2005, after BICE requested that we accept a "highly combative and uncooperative" detainee. LT Mason of BICE indicated that Soo was banging his head, biting himself, flinging himself, and generally refusing to comply with any orders.
He was charged with internal disciplinary charges for refusing a direct order and had a hearing. Those charges were dismissed after determining that Soo had difficulty understanding the English language.
Upon arrival, and during the booking Soo refused to be processed. When we attempted to take his picture he dropped to the floor and curled up into a fetal position. When we tried to fingerprint him he jammed his fingers into his mouth and tried to bite them off. He also refused to be medically processed. He was dressed in a paper gown and placed in SDU # 3 for his protection as well as the protection of other inmates and staff members.
On January 17, 2005, Officers making rounds discovered that Soo had made a braided rope out of his paper gown. He was placed in SDU #6 without clothing for observation.
On January 19, 2005, he appeared to unresponsive in his cell. He was checked by medical staff and found to be OK. All vitals were normal and he had no injuries. He was further evaluated by the Nurse Practitioner.
On January 20, 2005, he attempted suicide by wrapping a thin string around his neck (which turned out to be the piping from his mattress). He injured his head when he fell to the floor after the string broke. An officer discovered Soo face down his cell and unresponsive. Soo was transported to Barnert Hospital,
treated and transported to St. Mary's for evaluation. He was treated medically and sent to St. Mary's for evaluation. From St. Mary's he was sent to the Ann Klein Forensic Hospital.
On Jan.22, 2005 inmate Soo was admitted to Ann Klein Forensic Center for psychiatric evaluation/treatment .
On Feb.11, 2005 inmate was discharged from Ann Klien and returned to PCJ. The aftercare plan states inmate is to be maintained as an individual who demonstrated self-injurious behavior. Inmate was placed
in receiving for observation.
On Feb15, 2005, after discussing the case with BICE it was determined that they did not want him housed in receiving or 1-2. Inmate was placed into SDU#6 for special watch or observation.
On Feb16, 2005 inmate was discovered hanging in cell and was immediately
treated and transported to St. Joseph's Hospital Emergency Room via ambulance.
The above is nearly the entire statement, except for Soo's physical description -- read the
full pdf here.
What's the SDU? It's the "Special Detention Unit" mentioned in the Inspector General's report on the September 11 detainees:
INS detainees were housed in the medium security portion of the Passaic
County Jail. Within that part of the facility, a Special Detention Unit (SDU) of
six single-person cells is used when needed to segregate inmates either for
their own protection or to punish inmates who commit disciplinary infractions.
Inmates confined to the SDU are monitored 24 hours per day by cameras in
each cell. In addition, SDU inmates only are permitted to place calls to and
receive visits from their attorneys – no social calls or visits are allowed.
According to Passaic policy, disciplinary infractions such as assaulting or
threatening staff and inmates are usually punishable by confinement in the
SDU for 15 to 30 days per incident. Later in this chapter, we discuss the
experiences of the few September 11 detainees held in the SDU.
In essence, SDU means solitary confinement and denial of visits from anyone except an attorney -- if the detainee is lucky enough to have one. No visits or phone calls Passaic classifies as "social" -- those from friends, spouses, family members, and community volunteers -- none are allowed in SDU.
This kind of isolation, which goes by different names in different facilities, is officially used both for "punishment" and "protection." The relevant question is whether in a particular case this is truly justified.
Farouk Abdel-Muhti was placed in solitary confinement for eight months after he organized a hunger strike with five other detainees. He was also placed in isolation after he was beaten by a guard. In this incident, Farouk's cell was searched and the guard had found high blood pressure medication Farouk had kept in his cell, which is a violation of prison regulations. But the guard had also found leftist publications in Farouk's cell, which is not in violation of any regulation, and verbally abused him about being anti-American as he struck him and threw him to the ground.
So as a rule we can't take detention facilities' statements about their use of the SDU at face value. The Passaic County Jail statement portrays Mr. Soo as a mentally ill inmate dangerous to himself and others.
We don't know from either NJCRDC or Passaic how long Mr. Soo had been in immigrant detention prior to being taken to Passaic, or whether he had been in SDU conditions for any length of time before. We don't know how he was spoken to or treated prior to or at Passaic, the reason for his detention or what he understood about it, if anything, as a non-English speaker.
According to Passaic Mr. Soo was placed in solitary confinement upon arriving. After 6 days, he attempted suicide and was sent to the hospital for psychiatric treatment, where he stayed for just under three weeks. The evaluation recommended he be treated as a "self-injurious" inmate, and Passaic placed him in "receiving," where he presumably could be closely watched and prevented from injuring himself. Four days later BICE decided, for reasons which are unexplained, to move him back to solitary confinement for "special watch or observation", and the next day he killed himself.
At a glance, Mr. Soo's suicidal behavior is strongly connected with the isolation of SDU. People with any inclination to mental illness are not known to fare well in solitary confinement. In fact, solitary confinement can create mental illness in people who didn't have problems before.
The question is, was SDU the only option Passaic had for Mr. Soo? If it was, why? Passaic represents that they were entrusted with a mentally ill inmate they were unable to prevent from killing himself. But the BICE and the facility assume ultimate responsibility for the welfare of anyone they're holding, because absolutely no one else can. The system needs to be able to handle the mentally ill.
Immigrant detainees are not criminals: they are people being held until they can be deported, which the Supreme Court ruled cannot be for longer than six months. Yet there's virtually no difference in treatment between criminals and immigrant detainees. Except criminals have a right to a court-appointed lawyer, and immigrants do not.
So a detainee often has no one to represent their interests except the prison and the BICE. And when an immigrant without a lawyer is placed in SDU, the Passaic regulations pronounce the immigrant, in effect, "disappeared" -- no calls out or in. That in itself is not a prescription for mental health.
Living in a box day and night, unable to talk to anyone, with no idea how long you'll be there, perhaps no understanding why you're there.
Would only a crazy person contemplate suicide in that situation?