The following article was originally published by La Resistencia.
Detainees inside Northwest Detention Center begin a hunger strike to protest their conditions, following a fire raged in Tacoma’s Tide Flats
Tacoma, WA — Northwest Detention Center, an infamous detention center for immigrants with a long record of human rights violations, is the stage for a hunger strike led by at least 80 immigrant detainees in two separate nits. The strike, led by Units G4 and G3, demand better food quality, hygiene, and clothes – as well as recreational yard time at a proper hour. Currently, the detention center offers yard time from 6:30 AM to 7:30 AM, while the
incarcerated immigrants are trying to find rest and respite from the humiliations inside NWDC.
The hunger strike, which began this morning Monday May 29th, also follows a fire that took place yesterday in Metro Metals NW, right behind the detention center. The fire began at 7 AM, and it took hours to be quelled by the local fire department. A column of rising from Metro Metals was visible from afar, as pictured by Twitter user @Tacoma_Mark in a now-deleted tweet (see below). Emergency crews rushed to the scene and reported no injuries, according to the South Sound News.
Prisoners inside NWDC had no option but to breathe the fumes that resulted from the metal processing plant fire, a few meters away from their location. According to those inside the prison, smoke came through the air ducts, forcing authorities to turn off the A/C. Just one unit reports being told about the fire when their yard time was canceled, the rest of the units La Resistencia organizers talked to report not being informed of the fire next door.
The metal plants in the Tacoma Tide Flats have proven vulnerable to fires that release toxic fumes into the environment. In June 2021, for example, a metal recycling center went up in place on Marine View Drive. Firemen at the time advised that “residents should shut their doors and windows and shelter in place until conditions improve.” Such options were not available for detainees. Prior to that, another fire took place in September 2018 in the same facility known then as Simon Metals LLC, in River St. The fire started at 2 AM, and it lasted for nearly twelve hours until it was put out.
As reported by journalist Lewis Kamb in 2017, Northwest Detention Center was established in the Tacoma Tide Flats despite widespread knowledge that the land was the site for an EPA Superfund Site.
La Resistencia’s founder Maru Villalpando, long-time immigrant organizer working with NWDC detainees, said, “Toxic metals, fire, and people should not mix, yet this is happening again. This plant is right behind the NWDC where at least 600 people are incarcerated by ICE under a private contract with GEO Group.”
NWDC does not have an evacuation plan in place for detained people. Furthermore, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between GEO and the Tacoma Fire Department mentions guidelines for the evacuations of guards – but not for those detained. The only reference to detainees in the document states that in case of emergency, shackles should be available.
The environmental toxicity of NWDC is compounded by an utter indifference for the welfare of detainees on the part of NWDC authorities. An unannounced visit report released last week by the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security found that whenever detainees file complaints inside NWDC, the prison administration’s response rarely comes in a language that matches that of the request. In other words, the detention center provides responses that cannot be understood by the detainees. The report also found a lack of overall responses to grievances as well as a shortage of available medical staff.
Although such a report lists no problem with detention conditions including hygiene, detainees beg to differ by staging this year alone 3 hunger strikes including today’s action taken by at least 80 people detained.
La Resistencia is a grassroots organization in Washington state led by
undocumented people in solidarity with detainees at Northwest Detention
Center, fighting for the closing of the facility and an end to all detentions and deportations.
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