Immigrant deaths in private prisons surge under Trump

The surge in deaths follows a major crackdown on immigrants since January

The Trump administration has overseen a surge in deaths in private prisons (Getty Images)

The number of immigrant deaths in US detention facilities is on pace to double this year compared to last year, and most of those deaths are likely to die in private facilities.

In recent months, inmates have died for a range of reasons. A Panamanian national hanged himself in Georgia two weeks ago in a privately run facility after 19 straight days in solitary confinement. Days earlier, an Afghan mother seeking asylum from the Taliban attempted to hang herself in a private Texas facility but lived. Another inmate, an Indian national, died of congestive heart failure just a day after the Panamanian man.

There have been eight deaths so far in the 2017 fiscal year, according to a review of Immigration and Customs Enforcement records by the Daily Beast, compared to 10 deaths in all of 2016. Of the total 18 deaths between the two years so far, nine have occurred in jails run by GEO Group, America’s second-largest private prison company. The fiscal year starts in October.

All of these effects coincide with a spike in immigration arrests under the administration of President Donald Trump, who has signed executive orders instructing federal law enforcement agencies to crack down on undocumented immigrants. More than 41,000 people were arrested by ICE in the first 100 days of Mr Trump’s presidency, leading to heightened concerns among attorneys and advocates say that the private and public facilities were already understaffed, provided poor medical care, and were hotbeds for violence.

Mr Trump’s approach to immigration and law enforcement in general contrasts with that of his predecessor Barack Obama. Mr Obama had directed the Justice Department to phase out the use of private prisons, but Mr Trump reversed that decision soon after taking office. That decision led to a rise in stocks for GEO Group and CoreCivic, another large private prison company in the US.