Dying of Neglect
Award-winning Washington Post reporters Amy Goldstein and Dana Priest just concluded a stunning series, "Careless Detention: Medical Care in Immigrant Prisons." Some 33,000 immigrants are crammed into these facilities, often for minor offenses, and many linger in detention for months or years. Goldstein and Priest use a wealth of personal testimonies and official documents to expose a shocking pattern of inadequate care.
The investigation found a hidden world of flawed medical judgments, faulty administrative practices, neglectful guards, ill-trained technicians, sloppy record-keeping, lost medical files and dangerous staff shortages. It is also a world increasingly run by high-priced private contractors. There is evidence that infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and chicken pox, are spreading inside the centers….
Some 83 detainees have died in, or soon after, custody during the past five years. The deaths are the loudest alarms about a system teetering on collapse. Actions taken -- or not taken -- by medical staff members may have contributed to 30 of those deaths, according to confidential internal reviews and the opinions of medical experts who reviewed some death files for The Post.
The series includes videos, photo slideshows and an interactive map. Keep it in mind for next year's Pulitzers.
www.washingtonpost.com/carelessdetention