Immigration lawyers complain about inhumane conditions in Plymouth prison

This month, legal groups filed a 19-page addendum to an earlier complaint about the facility with the state's attorney general, calling for “immediate action” to improve conditions. At the same time, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey sent a letter to federal authorities calling for tighter oversight and a re-examination of the contract with the Plymouth Sheriff's Office, which oversees the prison.

Advocates list a range of complaints, including barriers to detainees' contact with their lawyers, moldy food, solitary confinement as punishment, lack of language skills and retaliation against complainants. Activists who work with detainees say they face harsh, exhausting conditions on a daily basis that affect their physical and mental health.

“The mental anguish in Plymouth is particularly bad because the day-to-day conditions are particularly bad,” said the Rev. Annie Gonzalez, a volunteer with the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network, which signed the new complaint to the attorney general's office. Gonzalez said she answers the hotline for the group, which offers spiritual support and advocacy to detainees, and “people have said it really wears you down. It kind of breaks your spirit.”

A spokeswoman for Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said the office was “reviewing” the new allegations as well as the 2023 complaint filed by attorneys. The attorney general's office said it was not confirming or denying the existence of any investigations and declined further comment.

Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald Jr.'s office declined to comment on the details of the new complaint, saying only that the office is reviewing publicly available information.

“We have seen it in the press and are currently investigating what the complaint is about,” a spokesman said.

A representative of the Boston office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comment.

Federal agencies like ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service do not operate their own detention facilities and typically contract with local facilities, including county jails like the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, to house detainees. Local facilities often see the contracts as a way to supplement their own budgets.

Some sheriffs across the state housed detainees for ICE for years but ultimately terminated their contracts as discontent grew over the federal government's use of state and local resources for immigration enforcement, which has become a national political issue. The Suffolk County Sheriff's Office terminated its agreement with ICE in 2019. The Biden administration also terminated its contract with the Bristol County Sheriff's Office in 2021, though that decision was based on living conditions in that unit.

The Plymouth facility is the last one in the state still holding immigration detainees. And according to the new complaint, the ICE unit in Plymouth has increased capacity from 240 to 360, and the unit remains nearly full.

The Plymouth Sheriff's Office said it continues to actively negotiate with ICE to renew the contract, which expires at the end of September. Currently, ICE pays the jail $93.82 per day per inmate, according to a copy of the contract cited by Warren and Markey.

While negotiations continue, Justice ministers, who have been targeting immigration officials for years, are now increasing pressure to draft a new contract that would provide more privileges for detainees, such as giving a lawyer the right to call the facility and request a client call back, and giving detainees the right to request documents.

“There are simple solutions that should be part of the discussion,” said Heather Yountz, senior immigration attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.

But several of the lawyers whose organizations signed the complaint specifically called for the facility to be closed, even if that means some people would have to be detained farther away from their current homes and families.

Several advocates pointed out that there have been complaints about the facility for years, prompting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to launch an investigation in 2021 that ultimately resulted in 70 recommendations for improvements there. The office recommended improving telephone access, voice access, the complaint process and medical care.

Earlier this year, the Globe reported in detail on a man who said he was pepper-sprayed and then held in solitary confinement for weeks. The sheriff's office said at the time that its officers had fully complied with use-of-force policies.

“Incarcerated people are suffering in Plymouth,” said Tiffany Lieu, a clinical lecturer at the Harvard Immigration & Refugee Clinical Program who looked into the complaint. And she said, “Instead of solving the problem, Plymouth has actually expanded its capacity.”

Sarah R. Sherman-Stokes, a professor at Boston University School of Law and deputy director of the Immigrant Rights and Human Trafficking Clinic, said, “I do not believe the Plymouth contract should be renewed. It is a prison that has been rewarded for its lack of compliance.”

Sal Khan, 33, said he experienced many of the problems described in the complaints during a 57-day stay in Plymouth beginning in May, when he was arrested by ICE after an appearance in Malden District Court on an alleged assault charge. For weeks, he was unable to reach his lawyer, he said. He was unable to call family or friends, he said – the jail did not register their numbers as ones he was allowed to call.

“I was completely cut off from the world,” said Khan, of Cambridge, who was charged with assault on a police officer after an incident on an MBTA bus, according to court documents. He said he was in the midst of a mental health crisis when he was arrested and pleaded not guilty. He now faces deportation proceedings.

Khan said he is in the U.S. seeking asylum after fleeing Pakistan, where he faced dangers as an openly queer journalist. He is now free on bail.

In Plymouth, he said, the ward was overcrowded and there were long waits for medical attention. He ended up in solitary confinement twice, he said – once after complaining to correctional officers and a second time after he said he could not return to his ward because another inmate made him feel unsafe and locked him up. He also said the food was uncooked and the conditions were filthy.

“Living like this – it not only affects your health, but also your mental health,” he said.

Sean Cotter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @cotterreporter.