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Why Detention Conditions for Immgirants Should Concern All Americans Print E-mail
Monday, 05 November 2007
 An inmate died last week in a Minnesota county jail that contracts with the U.S. government to hold immigrant detainees. Family members say the death was the result of medical neglect. A group that has campaigned for justice for an immigrant woman who died at the jail last year say the jail is violating international standards of human rights.

 

Randy Gallmeyer, a U.S. citizen, died at Ramsey County Jail on October 22. After Gallmeyer's death was reported Friday in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune, members of the Maria Iñamagua Campaign for Justice released a statement demanding that the county meet its obligations under international human rights laws.

The family and friends of Maria Iñamagua, who died due to untreated medical needs while in custody of the Ramsey County Jail in April 2006, extend their sympathy and solidarity in tragedy to the family of Randy Gallmeyer, who lapsed into a diabetic coma and died on October 22, 2007 while in the custody of the Ramsey County Jail.  Once more, it appears that the absence of reasonable medical standards at Ramsey County Jail has claimed another life.

Campaign members also sent an open letter to the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners on Friday demanding that commissioners live up to promises they made followed Iñamagua's death at Ramsey County Jail in 2006. At the time, according to the letter, commissioners said they were committed to "provide the most respectful environment for people who come into the system" and "make sure that we are doing the best that we can" for inmates.

 

Maria Iñamagua, an immigrant from Ecuador, died at Ramsey County Jail in April 2006 while she awaited deportation. She had complained of headaches and dizziness for weeks before she slipped into a coma and only then was taken to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with having oxygen-depriving brain parasites. Inamagua's death is still under way by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General.

 

The work of the Maria Iñamagua Campaign shows that the fight to restore fairness and human decency to the U.S. immigrant detention system addresses problems that should be a concern to all Americans. When one group of people are deprived of proper medical care or access to advocates, we all are at risk.

  

To view government documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests regarding Ramsey County Jail and other ICE-contracted facilties, visit NIJC's Detention Center Documentation Collection.

 
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