NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Delaney Hall will be the focus of a new civil rights investigation launched Friday by the New Jersey attorney general.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said her office’s civil rights investigation into Delaney Hall comes after reports of alarming conditions and recent deaths at the Newark immigrant detention facility.
In a statement, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said the investigation is also in response to GEO Group, the private prison system operating the facility, stonewalling a full health inspection of Delaney Hall, among other efforts to skirt transparency.
Davenport said the investigation will look into whether any action or inaction by GEO Group employees violated the civil rights of anyone detained in Delaney Hall.
The facility was reopened last year after GEO Group signed a $1 billion, 15-year contract with the federal government.
In May, many detainees launched a hunger strike to bring light to poor conditions. Advocates continue to demonstrate outside the facility.
U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez said he learned of a third death this year at Delaney Hall during an unannounced visit earlier this week. It comes just after 39-year-old Edwin Lopez-Cornejo died after a reported medical emergency on Aug. 1.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, in a statement, said this investigation is “the right and necessary course of action.”
“We’ve heard the reports of disturbing conditions and have been heartbroken by recent deaths of detainees at the facility,” Shapiro said. “ICE and The GEO Group have continued to block our efforts for a full health inspection, and there are now reports that visitations have been stopped. We will not tolerate a facility that abdicates any transparency and accountability. I have long opposed private detention facilities, and my position is clear that Delaney Hall should be closed. My administration will continue to do everything in our power to hold ICE and The GEO Group accountable to New Jersey laws.”
In response to a request for comment from KYW Newsradio, a GEO Group spokesperson directed us to contact ICE. ICE has yet to respond to that request.
