Diabetes, depression, headaches and earaches are only a few of the symptoms endured every day by the people incarcerated in New Jersey's immigration jails, ailments for which it is difficult and often impossible to get medical attention.

El Diario / La Prensa compiled a list of more than 40 complaints from those detained, during an investigation lasting several weeks, which was undertaken in response to letters sent by prisoners and their relatives to community organizations. This newspaper found that the common denominator in the charges is the lack of appropriate medical care for the prisoners and the lack of information provided their relatives.

According to our examination of these cases, the people most affected are those suffering from diabetes, since in most cases the administration of their medicines is delayed. Such is the case with Jacinto Morales, who said from his cell in the Middlesex jail that he is given insulin only when he presents “a dramatic drop in his normal levels.”

In New Jersey there is only one immigration detention center, located in Elizabeth, as well as various county jails which have contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to lodge immigrant arrestees temporarily, at fees of $100 a night, while they are waiting to be transferred to other centers around the country.

Raúl Pajes, from Uruguay, has been in the Elizabeth Detention Center for six months and has had a severe earache for the past three; he is given Tylenol only occasionally.

“You've got to see it to believe it,” laments his anguished wife, María, from their house in Plainfield. She adds she doesn't know what, of all the things happening to her husband, is the worst, “whether it's being held prisoner, being sick, or feeling the agony of not knowing whether or not he's going to be deported.”

The Elizabeth center is responsible for some 300 detainees, and also for over 1,000 persons in custody in the various N.J. county jails under contract with ICE.

Honduran Pedro Martínez, who is being held in the Middlesex county jail, sustained a blow to his right knee three months ago and has received no medical treatment even though the knee is visibly swollen and almost impossible to move.

“We only follow orders,” said a corrections officer at one of the centers, on condition that neither his name nor place of work is revealed. “Every day I see many instances of injustice and mistreatment on the part of the nurses who attend the prisoners, but I can't do anything about it,” he added.

The lack of medical attention in the detention centers has given rise to polemical arguments for many years. Data provided by ICE show that between January, 2004, and mid July, 2008, 77 persons in its custody nationwide have died.

Among the death is Boubacar Bah, a 52-year-old native of New Guinea, who was held at the Elizabeth Detention Center. After he fell and hit his head, he was left in a disciplinary detention cell for more than 13 hours, in spite of his complaints. Finally, unconscious and foaming at the mouth, he was taken to a hospital where he remained in a coma for four months, until he died, in May, 2007.

In another case, in California, Salvadoran Walter Rodríguez Castro, 28, died in April, 2006. The autopsy revealed the cause of death was meningitis, undetected in spite of the fact that Castro asked for medical attention for several days because of fevers, pain in his neck, and constant vomiting. His requests went unanswered.

Last March 2, Arturo Suárez Almenares, a 72-year-old Cuban, died in the Middlesex county jail. On February 29, Suarez requested medical help for severe chest pains and was treated with Tylenol. Three days later he died of a heart attack in a local hospital.

To avoid the repetition of cases like these, Senator Robert Menéndez (D-NJ) sponsored a bill submitted to Congress in May, the Detainee Basic Medical Care Law, which makes it mandatory that those detained in immigration jails receive appropriate medical attention.

“Detainees have the right to receive medical treatment, and if they need specialized care they should be transferred to a hospital or an adequate medical center,” stated Menéndez.

Maritza Chávez, the director of the Fundación Mundial Rescatando al Inmigrante (World Foundation for the Rescue of Immigrants), says that the complaints they receive about lack of medical care are a daily occurrence.

Harold Ort, a spokesman for ICE, said the federal agency “complies with all the requirements demanded by prison procedures.” He adds that in accordance with the standards provided by the Division of Immigration Health Services, DIHS, every one of the persons in ICE custody is given a physical examination within 14 days of arriving at a detention center, and every one of them receives the medical attention he or she requires.

Nevertheless, the testimony we have gathered provides a different picture.

“In here we feel completely diminished as human beings,” said Antonio Solís, who is imprisoned at the Essex county jail. “Some of the guards humiliate us and mock us if we ask to see the doctor,” he added.

Mexican María Mejía, held at the Hudson county jail while she awaits deportation, has become profoundly depressed because of the anxiety she feels at having had to leave her six children in the sole care of her husband.

“I'm going crazy,” María confessed in a desperate voice, and added that she has tried to get medical help, without success. “I have a constant headache, and they give me a pill and tell me to wait three days,” she complained.

Carmen Salvatierra of the Plainfield Hispanic-American Center confirmed that Mejía cries constantly, refuses to eat, and suffers from many symptoms associated with depression.

Silvia Hernández, director of the Plainfield Hispanic-American Center, encouraged relatives of those detained to report these conditions to centers such as hers.

“Here at our center we can advocate for them. The important thing is for them not to remain silent,” she insisted.

Marina Silvestre, whose husband is a detainee at the Elizabeth center, which is administered by the private company Corrections Corporation of America, reports that many of her husband's fellow detainees have colds, because “in there they keep the air conditioning on high, they make them shower in the morning with cold water, and they only give them one blanket.”

Salvatierra emphasized that the “truly lamentable” situation in which the immigration center detainees live is made worse by the fact that their relatives “have nowhere to turn and are afraid of retaliation.”

*Detainees’ names have been changed to protect the identities.