The Florida Detention Database tracks complaints at detention centers across the state
MIAMI, FL – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida partnered with the HOPE Public Interest Resource Center at the University of Miami School of Law to launch the Florida Detention Database, a new statewide tool tracking complaints lodged against Florida immigration detention centers for inadequate conditions, constitutional violations, and human rights abuses. The new database has already collected 96 complaints filed since 2017 at the Glades County Detention Center alone.
In recent years, countless complaints have been filed on behalf of detained individuals about the abuses and horrendous conditions rampant in Florida’s immigration detention centers. The new Database seeks to present a more complete picture of the systemic abuses and neglect throughout Florida’s detention centers.
While the Database currently only showcases complaints from the detention facility in Glades County, the organizations plan to collect data for detention centers across Florida in the coming months. The Database includes 36 complaints detailing misconduct or abuse by Glades’ officers or medical staff and 56 complaints submitted directly to the Department of Homeland Security in 2021 alone.
“We have known for years that vulnerable people at detention centers are subjected to horrific abuses, but with the little to no transparency offered by these facilities, officials are not held accountable,” said Katie Blankenship, deputy legal director at the ACLU of Florida. “The Detention Database will allow the public to identify patterns of abuse and inadequate conditions, and in turn, hold our leaders accountable once and for all.”
Additional data from Glades County include:
- On average, each person reported more than two types of abuses in their complaint.
- 53% of the complaints detailed three or more types of abuses 76% of complaints described denial of medical care/medication
- 24% of complaints described the use of force
- 23% of complaints described unsanitary conditions
- 24% of complaints included solitary confinement
- 20% of complaints described denial of personal hygiene products
- 29% of complaints related to COVID-19
The Detention Database is part of the new “Cultivating Communities for Immigrant Justice in Florida” toolkit, a web page for local leaders and advocates to access resources that will aid them in their efforts to make Florida a place of equal dignity and opportunity for all.
To view the database, click here.
