LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — For the first time, a judge has sanctioned private prison company CoreCivic for destroying video evidence allegedly tied to the wrongful death of a man who died by suicide while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
According to the article, “The sanction came shortly before a trial was slated to begin in January, but it never got underway. Instead, in March, the company reached an undisclosed settlement with the family of the detainee.”
The judge ordered an adverse inference against the company during a December hearing. That allows the jury to assume the evidence was unfavorable in an eventual trial and effectively imposes a penalty against CoreCivic.
Experts said this appears to be the first known case in which a private prison company was punished in a wrongful death lawsuit for destroying video footage connected to the deaths of immigration detainees while in custody, even though similar incidents have reportedly occurred for nearly a decade. Neither U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement nor CoreCivic issued a statement or response.
Rebecca Sheff, senior staff attorney for American Civil Liberties Union and a member of the plaintiff’s legal team, said the judge’s punishment is significant because prison companies frequently delete or erase surveillance footage that could be used as evidence in cases. In court, the destruction, tampering, or alteration of evidence is referred to as “spoliation.”
Sheff stated, “It’s a practice we documented and unearthed: CoreCivic routinely lets video evidence be overwritten. Even in this case, where they’ve been put on notice. CoreCivic is essentially used to getting away with it — to not getting called on it.”
Immigration attorney Laboni Hoq, who was not involved with the CoreCivic case, said prison companies should face consequences when they fail to preserve evidence. Hoq stated, “There has to be accountability when there are knowable consequences and prison corporations flout their responsibilities to preserve evidence.”
The case involving CoreCivic centered on Kesley Vial, a 23-year-old Brazilian asylum seeker who died in a hospital on Aug. 24, 2022, one week after attempting suicide at the CoreCivic-operated Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia.
According to the article, “Attorneys for Vial’s family sent CoreCivic a letter on the day he died, demanding preservation of all records relevant to his suicide attempt, including video footage taken in Vial’s cell, adjacent areas, rooms, and anywhere relevant to the incident. (Vial’s family declined to comment for this story).”
In the weeks that followed, a CoreCivic investigator created a report using 49 still images pulled from video footage, building a timeline intended to support the company’s claim that it was not responsible for Vial’s death.
According to Sheff’s testimony in court, CoreCivic did not turn over the original video footage for 37 of the 49 still images. She also testified that footage from 14 of the 15 cameras operating that day had been erased, with the company stating the recordings were overwritten.
CoreCivic claimed its staff was unaware Kesley Vial was prone to suicide and said they had a timeline report explaining what occurred.
The court later found that important video footage from that day had been destroyed or possibly overwritten. Without it, key moments before his death could not be reviewed.
The judge and attorneys argued the missing footage harmed the case because the video could have shown what really happened. Without the video evidence, the judge said the case could not be properly understood.
The judge ruled that CoreCivic had improperly destroyed evidence, referred to as “spoliation,” and gave the jury permission to assume the missing video would have harmed CoreCivic’s case.
After the ruling, CoreCivic began settlement discussions, and the case was later resolved before proceeding to trial.
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