Congressman André Carson called for an end to housing Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees at Miami Correctional Facility in north-central Indiana on Thursday, citing two deaths in custody and reports of inadequate medical care.
Carson spoke outside the facility after conducting a congressional oversight tour. He joined faith leaders and immigrant rights advocates.
Two ICE detainees have died at Miami Correctional since February — Lorth Sim, 59, on Feb. 16 and Tuan Van Bui, 55, on April 1. Both were reportedly found unresponsive in their cells and could not be revived. The Miami County coroner ruled Sim's death was caused by a cardiovascular disease. Bui's cause of death remains under investigation. Carson called for full investigations into both deaths.
WFYI requested comments from ICE officials and the Indiana Department of Correction late Thursday.
Carson, an Indianapolis Democrat, represents the 7th Congressional District. As a member of Congress, Carson has the legal right to conduct oversight visits to observe the conditions of facilities.
While he commended the staff working at the prison, he raised concerns about short-staffing. He said detainees described poor living conditions, including limited medical attention, a lack of clean clothes and irregular meal times.
"They are not violent criminals, and they don't deserve to be detained," Carson said. "Now the Trump administration and his ICE Gestapo have thrown law and order out of the window in favor of fear and chaos."
Carson said detainees told him a functional intercom system could have made a difference in the response to at least one of the deaths.
“It could have prevented one of the deaths where a detainee was screaming and they felt as if the personnel dismissed the screams because they thought the person was joking around,” Carson said.
Carson said he also spoke with inmates who additionally gave poor ratings to conditions inside the prison.
Miguel Avila, a Mexican immigrant who spent nine months in ICE detention, spoke at the press conference. He described conditions he called among the worst he experienced — no access to sunlight or fresh air and an inability to see his family.
“The tremendous stress level that my wife and family have to deal with and the psychological trauma comes to my children is not something that can be easily handled,” Avila said. “It has caused lasting damage, and my family will never be the same again.”
Avila’s experience led him to become an advocate. He now visits detention centers including Miami Correctional.
“I can’t ignore the halting silence and the overwhelming sense of despair that feels in the air each visit reminds me that these are not just statistics. They are fathers. They are somebody’s brothers. They are somebody’s sons.”
The Indiana Department of Correction began holding male detainees at the maximum-security prison last October. The two-year contract between the state and the Department of Homeland Security agrees to provide up to 1,000 beds in the facility. As of now about 600 beds are being used.
For attendees like Olive Rusk from Fort Wayne, who works with immigration advocacy group Fuerza Unida, hearing the descriptions of the conditions was shocking and heartbreaking.
“As somebody who thought that I prepared to see something really inhumane, I still came and needed a few minutes to weep and ground myself again,” Rusk said.
Carson and organizers encouraged attendees to reach out to their elected officials to demand the end of holding ICE detainees at Miami Correctional.
For Rusk, her message to state lawmakers is for them to visit the prison themselves and see what they are voting for.
Separately, Indiana State Police are investigating the death of a state inmate, Shawn Booker, 50, who died at Miami Correctional on April 5 — the third death at the facility since February.
