SAN DIEGO - Residents up and down California are concerned about the conditions at immigration detention centers, including one in San Diego County after an inmate died in custody.
Officials with the private prison company CoreCivic confirmed the man died at the Otay Mesa Detention Center on Sunday. A man who spoke to NBC 7 on the condition of anonymity says he has a friend that is currently in ICE custody at the detention center and the conditions there are horrible.
"It's so cold. You don't get to sleep and it's so crowded. They have about 200 people in one room where you can only fit about probably 75 max,” he said.
The Otay facility has garnered the attention of immigrants rights groups who last month protested alleged verbal abuse of inmates, medical negligence and retaliatory transfers. A complaint about the facility has also been filed with Homeland Security.
Families and immigrants rights activists also protested in Downtown San Diego over the weekend in solidarity with inmates at immigration detention centers in Bakersfield and McFarland who are going on a hunger strike due to the poor conditions at those facilities.
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