Immigrants in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center in Georgia are being subjected to horrific conditions and treatment, including “jarring medical neglect” and a high rate of hysterectomies among women, according to a whistleblower complaint filed by several legal advocacy groups on behalf of a nurse [Dawn Wooten] who works there... The complaint, filed on her behalf... by the human rights legal groups the Government Accountability Project and Project South, accused the... Irwin county detention center in Georgia... run by private corporation LaSalle Corrections... of negligence, including poor safety precautions surrounding Covid-19 and generally hazardous and unsanitary conditions... Immigrants who spoke out against these conditions were regularly pushed into solitary confinement... Wooten reported an alarmingly high rate of hysterectomies – a surgery in which part or all of the uterus is removed – being performed on Spanish-speaking immigrants, many of whom did not appear to understand why they had undergone the procedure... The complaint also alleges health and safety violations related to the procedures.

... The facility has refused to test detained immigrants for Covid-19 in a timely manner, concealed numbers of positive tests and mixed those who have been exposed to Covid-19 with those who have not... the groups also plan to file these documents to Congress as well as to the United Nations.

... An Ice spokeswoman, Lindsay Williams, said on Tuesday that the agency did not comment on matters that have been presented to the Office of the Inspector General, which is responsible for investigating such allegations. She added that “anonymous, unproven allegations, made without any fact-checkable specifics, should be treated with the appropriate skepticism they deserve”. LaSalle Corrections did not respond to request for comment.