ICE Detainee In Newark Claims Retaliation For Exposing Poor Medical Conditions - Gothamist

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The alleged retaliation was carried out in the Haitian immigration and customs enforcement detention facility by Ernest Francois (Ernest Francois).

Regarding medical negligence at his Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark. 

First, the correctional officer called him a thief. He was then placed in solitary confinement, called administrative detention, because Francois said it was a "negligence" fabricated violation. Later, Francois said that the correctional officers pushed him so hard that he injured his head and hurt his back and neck. That incident left him alone.

But he said that the most persistent harassment was emails from an unknown source in the prison: François Francois (François) booking photos of tampered images (supposedly only available on a secure server) flooded with Messages of hatred and hatred. A man painted a gun on his head. "KKK" is written on the other note. 

Detailed descriptions of these allegations were compiled by Francois’ attorney, Matthew Johnson of the American Friends Service Council, and sent to officials in Essex County before contacting the Gotham Pie/New York City Government shared. Johnson asked officials to investigate these allegations. This week, the warden agreed. Johnson also insisted on moving Francois out of the restricted forces. He said he would be abused by the officers and then returned to his dormitory until the Gotham Pie/New York City story was broadcast and published. The request was denied.

Essex County imprisoned about 400 ICE detainees through a prison

With the Trump administration. County spokesman Anthony Puglisi neither confirmed nor denied François' allegations. Puglisi said: "All relevant entities in Essex County are currently reviewing them. We will have no official comment until the review is complete."

Francois, 47, was one of a dozen detainees who contacted Gothamist/New York City (WNYC) last year. They claimed that they were ignored by the prison’s medical team. The largest ICE detention center in New York/New Jersey. They said that they only received Pepto-Bismol treatment for their long-term and chronic illnesses, and medical staff postponed sick leave calls and belittled them. County officials and their private medical provider CFG Health Systems denied these allegations. 

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Francois aired in January and issued a statement saying that medical staff accused the detainees of causing problems. "Basically, they are doing their usual job-you are sick, you are deported, they no longer need to deal with you," François said at the time. "But at this point, I would rather be deported than die here, do you know what I mean?"

Francois began a series of telephone conversations with Gothamist/WNYC in October 2019 and gave an interview in prison in December. He arrived from Haiti when he was 11 years old and he is a legal resident. He is the father of four children of American citizens. 

In 2002, he participated in the battle between the Haitians and Jamaicans in Orange, New Jersey. Francois shot and killed an unarmed man holding a pizza box. He was charged with manslaughter and was

Before being directly released to ICE for custody nearly three years ago. 

ICE is seeking to deport him, but Francois said that Haiti has no record of his nationality there. Last year, a judge released him $75,000 in bail, but ICE appealed and the bail was revoked. He is currently appealing the deportation order in the Federal Court.

Last year he said: “I strongly believe that ICE made me hostage because you cannot expel me or release me.” Francois said that he didn’t know anyone in Haiti, and that he would have theirs in political disputes After putting his life in danger, his family fled Haiti. 

There are indications that François has been regarded as a model detainee for most of his time in Essex. He was appointed by a correctional officer to take up a job of $21 a week, and as a rank representative, he interacted with officials about the concerns of detainees. 

Johnson wrote: “Although Mr. François previously enjoyed a respectful and professional relationship with the correctional officers in his dormitory and throughout the facility, after citing his news report, the police officer’s complaint to Mr. François The treatment has changed drastically." In his letter to the prison.

When François became ill last year, the trouble began. He said he was vomiting and had experienced abdominal pain for two weeks: "My inner pain, I have never felt this way before," he said at the time. He said, but his illness never received proper treatment. According to Johnson, it turns out that Francois tested positive for Giardia, an infection caused by parasites in food or water. 

Johnson wrote to the prison and the Essex County Attorney’s Office: “Correctional officers at the Essex County Correctional Facility have harassed, abused and intimidated Mr. François’ right to freedom of speech as stipulated in the Constitution. Obviously retribution to him." "The officer’s behavior includes racial discrimination and implicit threats of violence. This behavior is not only unprofessional. It is illegal and violates Mr. François’s U.S. Constitution and state civil rights. Rights under the regulations."

On June 30, a sergeant allegedly locked Francois in his cell and said: "You will never go home" and "White Power". Johnson asked to identify all persons involved in the case and impose appropriate criminal penalties on them. 

This is not the first time that Essex corrections officers have brought justice to whistleblowers. Another former ICE detainee in Essex, Jose Hernandez Velasquez, said he was the target of retaliation

, In the story about Gothamist/WNYC, how military officers physically and sexually abused him. 

Like Francois, Hernandez Velasquez was held in solitary confinement on the day the story was published. Since then, he has filmed his activities in prison and a correctional officer allegedly told him: "You want to be a star, and we will treat you as a star." He is now in another detention center. County officials did not respond to questions about alleged retaliation.

Carlos Sierra, the third detainee, said that he was quoted in a story in the same month because he did not undergo an MRI examination due to neurological damage after he fell in prison and was subjected to correction staff Harassment. After the article appeared, he said he was fired from his job in the library, where he helped other detainees as prison paralegals. He has since been released.

During the Trump administration, ICE detainees across the country who spoke publicly about their situation were harassed. Three recent detainees in Florida

Federal lawsuits for retaliation. Women detained in Georgia and Louisiana said they were

, Including solitary confinement, for the production of publicly released videos about bad treatment. In Washington State, the undocumented immigrant told reporters about ICE’s arrest of his girlfriend.

. 

Francois said that through a public offering, he hopes to protect other whistleblowers. He believes that because the officers repeatedly called him an "informer" loudly enough to be heard by the detainees, this was inciting prisoner violence against him.

Johnson said: "Ernest's primary goal is to stop harassment and protect other detainees and prisoners from similar treatment in order to retaliate against the situation or any other reasons." "For this, he wants the public to know his Doing so that the officers will not be able to get rid of this situation in the future." 

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