According to a non-confidential investigation report obtained by Fox News, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) jointly conducted an investigation with six officials and four external contractors into the Delaney Hall at the Newark Immigration Detention Center in New Jersey. The investigation results were found to be inconsistent with some of the claims made by the state attorney general in a lawsuit previously filed.
Previously, New Jersey State Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced that the state was suing the GEO Group company. DHS had a contract with the company to operate ICE facilities. The Attorney General’s office cited reports from the media and Democratic members of Congress, alleging the presence of worms in the food, lack of toilet paper, poor medical conditions or lack of medical services, and reports of tuberculosis.
Shortly after the Attorney General filed the lawsuit, DHS posted on their website saying, “This is an unreasonable lawsuit.”
In this unpublished investigation report, OPR stated, “The inspection evaluated whether the facility complied with 22 standards… and found that the facility met 17 of them.”
Fox News had previously identified 5 standards that were not met in an investigation in August last year:
1. Food services had deficiencies, such as refrigerator icing;
2. Deficiencies in intake and release procedures, such as failure to collect fingerprints when releasing detainees;
3. Deficiencies in detention facility conditions, such as inaccurate recording of detention room inspections and custody information;
4. Deficiencies in environmental health and safety, such as improper labeling of on-site cleaning equipment;
5. Deficiencies in suicide and self-harm prevention, such as inadequate detention time for monitored individuals.
The OPR report found deficiencies in food storage, fingerprint collection, and cleaning labeling at the facility, but not as severe as alleged by the Attorney General. The report also recommended that ICE Newark Enforcement and Removal Operations department “continue to work with the contractor to address any remaining deficiencies in accordance with contractual obligations.”
(Reference: FOX NEWS)