Mysterious Deaths Sparks Hunger Strike at Arizona Immigration Jail (Eloy)

"A group of 200 immigrant detainees launched a hunger strike at Eloy Detention Center outside Phoenix Saturday morning to protest a detainee's death last month and call attention to conditions at the facility, said immigrant rights activists and detainees' families.

Last month's death of José de Jesús Deniz-Sahagún, a Mexican national who died in custody at Eloy, prompted the protest. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials issued a statement at the time saying that Deniz-Sahagún was found dead in his cell and did not show signs of injury, but detainees who joined the strike Saturday said guards beat him and locked him up in solitary confinement before he died.

Detainees also claim a second man died in custody, but ICE has refused to acknowledge the death, activists said." - HuffPo, June 13, 2015.

"Responding to what they say is ongoing abuse and neglect, and demanding an independent investigation into two recent detainee deaths they feel are suspicious, about 200 immigrant detainees launched a hunger strike Saturday morning at the Eloy Detention Center.  At 9:45 a.m., the men sat down in the recreation yard and declared their strike against what they say are brutal and inhumane conditions.

Among their demands:

• Independent investigation into the two recent deaths, both of which happened under what detainees say are mysterious circumstances, allegedly after guard abuse
• An investigation into excessive use of force at the detention center
• Better medical and mental health care
• Access to legal resources and court hearings when requested
• An end to what they say is the exploitation of their work
• An end to immigration criminalization, detention and deportations

About 100 family members of the hunger strikers, people formerly detained at Eloy and concerned community members protested outside the detention center in support of the hunger strikers." - Shelley Shelton, Tucson News, June 13, 2015.