By Malik Washington, Destination Freedom Media Group
This is the third major installment of a series of articles that I have written regarding conditions and situations that have arisen at GEO Group’s El Centro Detention Facility (El Centro facility) in El Centro, California. Because of the exposure that I received on the Davis Vanguard media website and the support of a network of activists connected to the American Friends Service Committee, we’ve been able to attract the attention of GEO Group corporate executives in Boca Raton, Florida and many others in California and beyond. On Tuesday, March 12, 2024, auditors from the GEO Group corporation arrived at the El Centro facility. This initial visit was the first of a lengthy, pre-scheduled two-week audit of the El Centro facility. The U.S. Marshal Service just recently finished up their own inspection of the El Centro facility a couple weeks ago. These audits have come on the heels of two exposés which have highlighted numerous problematic issues at the facility, such as lack of accommodations for the disabled as well as the maltreatment of detainees who peacefully exercise their right to free speech.
In the first article of this series, I told the story of William Thurlow (above – aka Billy), a blind detainee from Brawley, California. Mr. Thurlow fell hard on the floor while showering on Housing Unit A-South at the El Centro facility (A-South) on or around December 14, 2023. A point which may have been lost on some is the fact that A-South has no handholds in the shower or bathroom areas. This caused the facility to be out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The blatant disregard of ADA standards caused harm to the blind detainee, William Thurlow. A casual observer could surmise that the Compliance Officer at El Centro, Ms. Amescua, and high-ranking 
administrators like Warden F. Semaia, would have acted quickly in order to comply with the ADA standards and eliminate the safety hazard, but that is not what happened. On Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at approximately 9:30 a.m., a GEO Group auditor entered A-South. The GEO Group auditor was a White male with a large grayish beard and a pleasant demeanor. He greeted me in a cordial manner and then went about his business of inspecting the housing unit. As always, I was paying close attention to details. The GEO correctional officer working A-South that day was an African American male named Mr. Smith. When Mr. Smith escorted the auditor into the bathroom/shower area, I heard the auditor say, and I quote, “Why aren’t there any handholds in the shower or accommodations for disabled inmates in this bathroom?” Mr. Smith responded, “I don’t know.”
Now, I want to ask our readers to step back for a moment and consider a few key facts. (A) it’s been three months since our initial article about William Thurlow’s fall in the shower at A-South; (B) my partner and colleague, Gale Washington, sent a copy of the initial article to several members of the GEO Group’s Board of Directors in January 2024; and (C) Head Warden, F. Semaia; his assistant at the time, Ms. Franco; and Chief of Security, Mr. Stratton were all well aware that A-South and other units at the El Centro facility were not in compliance with the ADA, but they did nothing. This is a stellar example of deliberate indifference.
However, on Thursday, March 14, 2024, a day after the GEO Group auditor pointed out the ADA violation on A-South, something remarkable happened. Around 10:00 a.m. GEO Group employee, Lt. Mendez, ordered all detainees on A-South to pack their belongings and be prepared to move in 45 minutes. We were collectively moved to Bravo East, a housing unit on the El Centro campus. We were instructed that A-South would be closing pending renovations. My initial thought was that the administration at GEO El Centro was going to address the lack of accommodations for disabled detainees inside A-South. I was wrong. As of March 25, 2024, the maintenance department at the El Centro facility painted A-South and fixed some imperfections in the flooring that have presented a safety hazard in the past. But we have not seen the following: (a) handholds and bars in the shower area for those with mobility issues; fyi these are group showers and not individual shower units; (b) we have yet to see a special seat in the shower area for disabled detainees; and (c) handholds and bars in the toilet area are still non-existent. One reason that I believe GEO Group is hesitant to make the ADA renovations is that the facility at El Centro is leased and not owned by GEO Group. Complying with ADA standards is not within the financial interests of a for-profit prison corporation. I suppose the question needs to be asked: “Can government contractors like GEO Group pick and choose which U.S. laws it can follow or not follow?” I do know for an absolute fact that GEO Group is fully aware that none of the general population housing units at the El Centro facility are in full compliance with the ADA. When we consider the case of William Thurlow and Gilberto Garcia, we know that El Centro does house detainees with disabilities.
Warden Semaia has made a point of telling his staff that the articles I’ve written about El Centro have no merit and are full of hyperbole. That false narrative was refuted when the GEO Group auditor saw with his own eyes in A-South what I reported in January 2024.
Nevertheless, there are other detainees here at the El Centro facility who have been harmed and Warden Semaia has failed to act in a timely and reasonable manner.
THE TRAGIC AND HEARTBREAKING CASE OFGILBERTO GARCIA
On Tuesday, February 20, 2024, a 40-year-old Mexican male named Gilberto Garcia, U.S. Marshal Service No. 00460-511, was brought to the El Centro facility, also known as the GEO El Centro Processing Center. Mr. Garcia has never been incarcerated before and was suffering from bouts of anxiety as he sought to acclimate himself to his new surroundings. Mr. Garcia was assigned to the bunk exactly right next to me and asked that I call him Gilberto. Gilberto told me that he was from Calexico, California and made a living mining Bitcoin.
Gilberto shared that since he had been incarcerated, he has been having seizures. He said he missed his wife, Lilian, and believed his heightened anxiety and worry contributed to the deterioration of his health.
Our question to GEO Group is this: Considering the serious nature of Gilberto’s seizure condition and the potential for further physiological and neurological damage to him, will a for-profit prison corporation lobby for the freedom and release of a non-violent prisoner to home confinement or ankle monitor in the spirit of humanity, equity, justice, and fairness?
On or around Wednesday, February 21, 2024, Gilberto had a seizure (a grand mal seizure) at the El Centro facility. I did not witness this seizure, but I spoke to Gilberto about it. After his first seizure at the El Centro facility, Gilberto was taken by EMTs to El Centro Hospital. From there, he was flown by helicopter to Paradise Valley Hospital in the San Diego area. Paradise Valley Hospital has a floor where they specifically house detainees. The security firm that provides the security at the hospitals called Starside Security & Investigation. There has been a history of bad treatment of detainees who are housed at the Paradise Valley Hospital facility. Gilberto was brought back to the El Centro facility on or around Friday, February 23, 2024. The entire unit was on lockdown because of a riot that I have previously written about.
What I didn’t mention in that article (above), I will describe here. On Saturday, February 24, 2024 during lockdown, I found Gilberto passed out, naked on the floor of the shower on A-South. I and another detainee, Ernie Lozano, were in the restroom area and got curious when the water in the shower stopped for a number of minutes. We were hyper-vigilant because we knew Gilberto has a seizure condition. When I found Gilberto lying unconscious, naked on the shower floor, it caught me off-guard. I had previous training as a combat medic and pharmacy technician in the U.S. Army, so the first thing I did was check for a pulse and see if Gilberto was breathing. Once I confirmed Gilberto was breathing, Ernie and I notified the officer on duty that day. The officer acted quickly and radioed in a “Code Blue.” A “Code Blue” is a man down alert that brought medical and security staff running in order to provide help.
On Saturday, March 2, 2024, Gilberto had another seizure and as fate would have it, I was playing chess and he was sitting close by. I noticed Gilberto sweating profusely and he seemed disoriented. I removed his knit cap and asked a fellow detainee, Jose Ortiz, if he could fan Gilberto in order to cool him down some. I then calmly turned to the officer on duty that day, an officer named Mr. Castillo, and I said “We need emergency medical personnel. This man needs help.” Mr. Castillo froze in a panic. He came close to Gilberto but failed to act. Then Gilberto started seizing and was eased gently onto the floor where he began to seize with extreme volatility. That’s when Ricardo Flores, another detainee at the facility, said loudly to Mr. Castillo, “Hey, call in a Code Blue. This man needs help now.” That appeared to snap Mr. Castillo back to his senses and he called in the Code Blue.
On the morning of Wednesday, March 6, 2024, Gilberto was scheduled to go to the Federal Courthouse in El Centro, California. The transit bus turned back to the El Centro facility around 12 noon. Gilberto and another detainee named Kyle Lowe said that the bus sat outside the facility for approximately one hour. Kyle said Gilberto became visually upset when he thought he saw his wife, Lily, drive by in a brand new Camaro. Gilberto was handcuffed and shackled like the other prisoners on the bus. Mr. Lowe told me that Gilberto had one of the most violent seizure episodes that he has ever witnessed in his life. I discovered through my own research that Gilberto was transported to El Centro Hospital. The physicians at El Centro Hospital referred Gilberto to a neurologist named Sayed Monis.
Dr. Monis has been practicing medicine in Imperial County since 2009 and is extremely respected in his field. Gilberto was under a medically-induced sleep state while at Dr. Monis’ office. Dr. Monis attached Gilberto to a machine that has the ability to record brain activity. While hooked up to the machine, Gilberto had two seizures. Dr. Monis had all the evidence he needed to designate Gilberto as a bona fide seizure patient who needs a higher level of care. Another remarkable point in this story is that a nurse practitioner by the name of Aviles at the El Centro facility recommended in his notes that Gilberto be transferred immediately to a facility that could provide him with a higher level of care, yet Gilberto is still here at the El Centro facility.
On Wednesday, March 13, 2024, Gilberto’s parents visited him at the El Centro facility. Gilberto’s mother, Martha, is listed as his emergency contact and she was livid and confused as to why GEO employees had not notified her that her son had suffered so many seizure episodes in such a short period of time. My colleague and partner, Gale Washington, has been a paralegal for 30 years and she suggested that Gilberto fill out a Release of Information form so his lawyer and parents, as well as his wife, Lilian, could see what recommendations the medical staff were making. For days before the visit of the GEO Group corporate auditors, the medical staff had been obstructing Gilberto’’s access to these Release of Information forms.
I have taken a personal and professional interest in the case of Gilberto Garcia because I also have been diagnosed with a seizure condition. Gilberto’s seizure condition is much worse than mine and presents some troubling issues that must be considered. Gilberto reports that he has experienced an impairment of his cognitive and analytical faculties. For instance, Gilberto told me recently, that after a seizure episode that he had at the El Centro facility, he had forgotten his mother’s birthday. He was visually upset when he conveyed this information to me. Also, in one recent seizure episode at the El Centro facility, Gilberto’s blood pressure spiked to 190/130. This dangerously high blood pressure reading had medical staff at the El Centro facility concerned that Gilberto may suffer a stroke in the midst of one of his seizures. Furthermore, Gilberto has complained to me of weakness on the left side of his body.
Gilberto’s case reminded me of Colleen Garot, a mother of two who had a debilitating stroke at Las Colinas Jail in San Diego County, California in 2018. Colleen was arrested in 2018 inside her home. San Diego County deputies were there at her home to evict her. San Diego County deputies and, later, medical staff at Las Colinas Jail failed to ascertain and assess that Colleen was suffering from a serious neurological abnormality which led to her stroke. There is some evidence that appears to point to Colleen being the victim of some type of physical abuse at the jail. Colleen now requires to be given around-the-clock care at a skilled nursing facility. Colleen and her family were awarded $9.5 million in a lawsuit settlement against San Diego County.
WE DO NOT WANT GILBERTO TO BECOME ANOTHER VICTIM OF A SYSTEM WHICH IGNORES THE HUMANITY OF DETAINEES AND INMATES.
Malik Washington is a free-lance journalist and staff writer for Destination Freedom and Destination Freedom Media Group. He is a co-founder of the SRJ Freedom Collective.
