Haitian Man Dies In Fla. Immigration Detention


MIAMI (AP) — The death of a Haitian man while being detained by U.S. immigration authorities in Florida deserves an independent investigation, family members and community leaders said.
Valery Joseph, 23, died June 20 at the Glades County Jail in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

His sudden death is cause for "a deep concern'' about access to medical care in immigration detention, said Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center.

"He suffered from seizures,'' though the extent of his medical care in detention was not immediately clear, Little said.
Joseph had not complained of any illness when he last called his mother in West Palm Beach a few days before he died, his sister Sandy Jules, 21, said.

"This is another attempt by advocacy groups such as FIAC to tout unsubstantiated allegations over fact,'' said ICE spokeswoman Nicole Navas in a written statement Tuesday. "While a single death of an ICE detainee is a serious matter and a regrettable occurrence, it is important to review all the facts. There is no lack of adequate medical care for those held in detention. In fact, it's quite the opposite.''
ICE spends nearly $100 million annually on medical services for its detainees, including dental, chronic and mental health care, Navas said. The agency estimates that it houses an average of 29,800 illegal immigrants in detention facilities nationwide each day.
According to an ICE document provided by FIAC, Glades County Jail staff delivering medication to Joseph found him unresponsive in his bunk. Joseph could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead. Preliminary autopsy results indicate Joseph died of natural causes brought on by a seizure, the document stated.

Joseph's death remains under investigation and autopsy results are pending, said Robert DeMann, chief deputy of corrections for the Glades County Sheriff's Office.
"We do know there's no indication of any foul play, no trauma,'' DeMann said.
Little and Haitian community leaders in Miami compared Joseph's death to that of the Rev. Joseph Danticat, who died in ICE custody in 2004 after falling seriously ill at Miami-Dade County's Krome detention center. The 81-year-old's ordeal was chronicled by his niece, the Haitian-born writer Edwidge Danticat, in her prize-winning memoir last year.

A federal review of Danticat's case found no fault with ICE, Little said.
Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami, scoffed at that assessment. "We want an independent investigation because we do not trust ICE,'' she said.
Joseph, who was born in Port-au-Prince but left Haiti as a young child, had been taken into ICE custody at the Palm Beach County Jail on Dec. 28. An immigration hearing had been scheduled for July 3.

He had had several felony convictions, including robbery and grand theft, and was being held in Palm Beach on a robbery charge. His immigration status was not clear, Little said.
FIAC and Joseph's family have filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for his medical records. They said ICE barely notified the family that Joseph had died.
"No one from immigration or jail called me when my son died,'' his mother, Jacqueline Fleury, said in a statement read by Jules.

Instead, Fleury said, a chaplain called Joseph's girlfriend, who then called his family. A letter from ICE stating that Joseph had suffered a seizure came a week later.
A June 11 report on deaths in ICE custody by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General found that ICE’s overall standards equaled those of other detention agencies. The inspector general also recommended, though, that ICE improve its oversight of its facilities and medical screening procedures and work to identify and fill clinical staff shortages at immigration detention facilities.

ICE officials noted that while their detainee population has increased30 percent since 2004, the number of deaths have declined from 29 that year to 7 in 2007.