LUMPKIN, Ga. — Democratic members of Congress are calling for an immigration detention center in southwest Georgia to be shut down after conducting an oversight visit this week, describing conditions that included overcrowded cells and lack of adequate medical care.
Stewart Detention Center, a facility run by the private prison company CoreCivic, is one of the largest detention centers in the country. At least two people have died after being detained at the facility this year, including a man with leukemia whose family said he waited eight days for medical treatment after he began coughing up blood, according to reporting from WABE. He was later transferred to a hospital, where he went into a coma and died.
Georgia Reps. Hank Johnson and Nikema Williams toured the facility for roughly four hours Tuesday alongside Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and North Carolina Reps. Valerie Foushee and Deborah Ross, and spoke with three people detained in the center. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock also toured the facility Tuesday in a separate visit.
Jayapal, who serves as ranking member of an immigration enforcement subcommittee, called the facility “one of the worst in the country,” citing a 2023 government report detailing substandard conditions within the detention center after an unannounced inspection. She added that lawmakers were initially obstructed from conducting oversight by the prison staff during this week’s visit.
“We had to fight for access and for answers to be here,” she said while standing outside the facility talking to reporters. “We are horrified by the situation here at Stewart, and we believe this detention center should be shut down.”