District Court: State inspectors must be allowed into detention center

On July 9, a U.S. District Court Judge in Seattle granted two preliminary injunctions ordering the GEO Group to allow state health inspectors into the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. 

Washington State sought the injunctions after months of inspection denials from the GEO group, a private, for-profit company that runs the detention center. The orders do not apply to administrative and medical areas controlled by ICE. 

WSNA has raised concerns about the condition of detainees brought to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, including a patient that had to have a toe amputation that might have been avoided if he had gotten timely medical care.  

Governor Bob Fergueson and Attorney General Nick Brown said the state Department of Health has received more than 3,500 complaints from detainees at the Tacoma ICE center, including reports of ignored medical emergencies, substandard and contaminated food, unsanitary conditions, and foul drinking water. 

The GEO Group, a private company that owns and operates the Northwest ICE Processing Center, has been blocking inspections ever since the state passed a law setting basic health and safety standards for private detention facilities. The law allowed the Washington State Department of Health to make unannounced health and safety inspections. The GEO Group has fought – and lost – in the courts and continued to block DOH health inspectors. 

“Everyone deserves basic health and safety, and this is a resounding win to protect the people held at the detention center,” said Attorney General Nick Brown in a press release. “The state has the right to inspect private detention facilities like the one run by GEO and investigate complaints of unsafe and unsanitary conditions.”