Amended lawsuit challenges unlawful detention, excessive force, and due process violations at the Baker County Detention Center, an immigration detention facility
MIAMI, FL – Sanctuary of the South and the ACLU of Florida filed an amended federal lawsuit on behalf of Guillermo Serrabi, a Salvadoran man illegally detained and violently assaulted while held in prolonged solitary confinement at the Baker County Detention Center under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) direction and supervision.
The amended complaint now names Baker County Sheriff Scotty Rhoden and Officer Caleb Collins as defendants, in addition to the United States. It details a brutal assault that left Mr. Serrabi with a ruptured eardrum and permanent hearing loss after Officer Collins attacked him for singing in his solitary cell. ICE placed Mr. Serrabi in isolation for 88 days — despite his deteriorating mental health and ongoing requests for medical care — using confinement to pressure him into signing deportation papers.
“After years of violence against immigrants at the Baker County jail, we’re suing to obtain justice for our client and to challenge the impunity officers at this facility continue to enjoy,” said Amien Kacou, staff attorney at the ACLU of Florida. “No one should endure the brutality Mr. Serrabi suffered at his most vulnerable moment.”
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, the amended complaint includes claims for false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and excessive force. It documents how ICE violated its own standards by subjecting Mr. Serrabi, who had no violent criminal history and suffered from serious mental illness, to prolonged solitary confinement.
While in ICE custody at Baker County:
- Mr. Serrabi suffered hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, and a severe mental health breakdown — without a single documented suicide risk assessment or language-access accommodation.
- Officers repeatedly taunted him to “sign his deportation papers” as the only way out of solitary.
- On December 21, 2021, Officer Collins assaulted Mr. Serrabi, smashing his ear against a wall, causing bleeding and lasting hearing damage.
- After the assault, Mr. Serrabi remained in isolation without meaningful medical treatment.
“This kind of cruelty is not accidental, it’s part of how our immigration system exerts control over human beings,” said Katie Blankenship, Movement Lawyer and Co-Founder at Sanctuary of the South. “This lawsuit seeks accountability for the torture Guillermo endured as part of a jarring pattern of inhumane abuse at Baker and across Florida’s detention centers.”
The Baker County Detention Center has faced multiple federal investigations for excessive force, unlawful segregation, and medical neglect. The ACLU of Florida’s detention abuse database has received hundreds of complaints from people held at the Baker County Detention Center, including:
- 55 complaints of punitive solitary confinement
- 25 complaints of excessive force, and
- 129 complaints of medical neglect
“No one should ever be subjected to this kind of torture in immigration detention,” added Blankenship. “Guillermo deserves justice for the illegal and heartless treatment he endured at Baker.”
The lawsuit can be viewed here.
