Women forced to use toilets in front of men: Report on US detention centres

India Today

22-07-2025

A report has exposed the inhumane conditions faced by undocumented migrants and the degrading treatment of detainees at several US immigration facilities. Among the most alarming revelations is the treatment of female detainees at the Krome North Service Processing Centre in west Miami, where women were reportedly forced to use toilets in full view of male detainees.The report, titled "'You Feel Like Your Life is Over': Abusive Practices at Three Florida Immigration Detention Centres Since January 2025," alleges that women were denied access to gender-appropriate medical care, basic hygiene facilities, and sufficient food.advertisementWomen were also detained there for processing despite it being a male-only facility. They had no access to showers or privacy, and some were exposed to voyeurism by male detainees. This processing reportedly took place over a matter of days, not hours.
Additionally, the report claimed migrants were shackled with their hands tied behind their backs and made to kneel to eat food from Styrofoam plates "like dogs".According to the report, several dozen men were confined in a crowded holding cell for hours and were not given any food until nearly 7 pm. Even when meals were finally provided, they remained in shackles, with their food placed on chairs in front of them, and they were unable to eat properly.Highlighting one of the incidents, the report stated that officers made men eat while shackled with their hands behind their backs after forcing the group to wait hours for lunch: "We had to bend over and eat off the chairs with our mouths, like dogs," one man said.AN INDIAN-ORIGIN MAN ACCUSES OFFICERS OF MAKING FUN OF HIS SURNAMEHarpinder Singh Chauhan, a 56-year-old British entrepreneur and father of two who had lived in the United States since 2016, said he saw an older man being kicked, according to the report.The report stated that he faced ethnically charged taunts during his stay at the detention centre in Pompano Beach.In an incident at BTC in late May, during roll call, an officer made fun of Chauhan by calling him "Chihuahua," the report claimed. This was a racially or ethnically charged taunt meant to belittle or ridicule him.HELD FOR OVER 24 HOURS, DETAINEES DEFECTED ON CRAMPED BUS: REPORTThe jail was so far beyond capacity, some transferring detainees reported that they were held for more than 24 hours on a bus in the parking lot. Men and women were confined together and unshackled only when they needed to use the single toilet, which quickly became clogged, the UK-based The Guardian reported."The bus became disgusting. It contained a single toilet that did not really flush. It was the type of toilet in which normally people only urinate. But because we were on the bus for so long, and we were not permitted to leave it, others defecated in the toilet. Because of this, the whole bus smelled strongly of faeces," the report stated, citing a detainee.advertisementWhen the group was finally allowed into the facility, many reportedly spent up to 12 days packed into an icy intake room – nicknamed la hielera (the ice box) – without bedding or warm clothing, sleeping on the cold concrete floor.HAITIAN WOMAN DIES AT DETENTION CENTREMarie Ange Blaise, a 44-year-old Haitian woman detained at the Broward Transitional Centre in Pompano Beach, died on April 25, according to the report.Rosa, one of the detainees, said she heard screams from a nearby cell and then saw Blaise in a kneeling position, experiencing what Rosa thought was a "seizure"."We started yelling for help, but the guards ignored us. Finally, one officer approached slowly, looked at her without intervening, and then walked away. After that, it took eight minutes for the medical provider to arrive, and then another 15 or 20 before the rescue team came. By then, she was not moving," Rosa was quoted as saying in the report.- EndsMust Watch