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Nearly 50 People Have Died in ICE Custody Since Trump’s Return to White House
Loaded on May 1, 2026
by Jo Ellen Nott
published in Prison Legal News
May, 2026, page 39
Filed under:
LaSalle Management Company,
Systemic Medical Neglect,
Staffing,
Suicides,
Immigration Detention.
Location:
United States of America.
by Jo Ellen Knott
The death toll within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carceral system reached a sad milestone with the April 12, 2026, passing of Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt, 27, at a detention center in Miami. Carbonell-Betancourt, a Cuban national, was found in his cell, with suicide announced as the probable cause of death, according to local station WTVJ. Carbonell-Betancourt was the 17th person to die in ICE custody so far this year (an average of one per week)—and the 48th since President Donald Trump (R) assumed office in 2025. This year has already reached half of 2025’s record-breaking body count.
Just one day prior to Carbonell-Betancourt’s death, a Mexican detainee was found dead at the Winn Correctional Center in rural Louisiana. Officials claim the detainee, Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, 49, was found “unresponsive,” but independent reviews of ICE deaths in custody frequently reveal that systemic delays in care are often the true culprits. It is perhaps unsurprising that Winn is operated by LaSalle Corrections, a private prison profiteer, and that it sits in a cluster of private facilities notorious for medical neglect and chronic understaffing.
Sources: ABC News, WTVJ
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More from this issue:
- The Systematic Terror of Rankin County’s “Goon Squad”, by Anthony Accurso
- ACLU Threatens New Lawsuit After Indiana County’s Repeated Failures to Abide by 17-Year-Old Settlement Agreement, by Chuck Sharman
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Washington Governor Fires Independent Prison Watchdog
- Spike in Massachusetts Prisoner Suicides Blamed on Isolation, K-2 and Spotty Mental Healthcare, by Chuck Sharman
- Idaho Moves Closer to Firing Squad Executions
- Exonerated Texas Prisoner Entitled to $1.68 Million After 22 Years of Wrongful Incarceration, by Chuck Sharman
- Atlanta Jail Boasts Improvements Since Consent Decree, Reports from Monitor and ACLU Are More Critical, by Chuck Sharman
- Fourth Circuit Revives North Carolina Prisoner’s Suit Blaming Lazy Guards for Assault by Detainee, by Chuck Sharman
- Hospital Keeps Sending Detainees Back Without Care to County Jail in Colorado
- Former Prison Dentist in Iowa Accused of Harassment
- Pregnant Women Detained in Jail: The Hideous Story of In-Custody Births, by Douglas Ankney
- $9.8 Million in Settlements Reached with South Carolina County and Wellpath in Gruesome Jail Death, by Chuck Sharman
- New York Juvenile Detention Officials Sued for Abusing Adolescents with Solitary Confinement, by Chuck Sharman
- Idaho DOC Director Denies Verified Report of Rampant Sexual Abuse of Women Prisoners by Staff, by Douglas Ankney
- Prisoners in Norfolk, Virginia Left on Extended Lockdown, by Michael Thompson
- “Like the Walking Dead”: Smuggled Drugs Fuel Chaos Inside Ohio Prisons, by Laura A. Bischoff, USA Today Network, Doug Livingston, The Marshall Project
- NaphCare Pays $875,000 to Settle New York License Violations, Banned from State for Five Years, by Chuck Sharman
- New Hampshire Officials Halt $700 Million Prison Replacement
- Illinois Jail Reprimanded for Denying Detainees Mail Based on Media Content, P.O. Box Return Address, Settles Detainees’ Suit with $111,825 Payment of Legal Fees, by Douglas Ankney
- Texas Officials Testify That Cost to Air Condition Prisons Tops $1.5 Billion, by Chuck Sharman
- $2.135 Million Partial Settlement Reached in Schizophrenic Detainee’s Death from “Gross Medical Neglect” at South Carolina Jail, by Chuck Sharman
- Federal Court Grants HRDC Preliminary Injunction Against Mail Censorship at New Mexico Jail, by Matthew Clarke
- Oklahoma Supreme Court: Jail Trust Cannot Withhold Requested Records under Law Enforcement Exemption of ORA, by Douglas Ankney
- Faced with Record-Breaking Jail Deaths, L.A. County Supervisors Tell Sheriff’s Department to Improve Access to Naloxone, Camera Monitoring, and Security Checks at California Jail, by Matthew Clarke
- Taser Use Doubled After Grand Jury Report on Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Death, by Michael Thompson
- Pennsylvania Closes Its Second-Oldest Prison
- Federal Court Places Medical Care in Arizona Prisons Under Receivership, by Matthew Clarke
- Nearly 50 People Have Died in ICE Custody Since Trump’s Return to White House, by Jo Ellen Nott
- $1.25 Million Paid for Special Needs Teen’s Fatal Beating in Houston Jail, by Chuck Sharman
- Oklahoma DOC Paid Prison Guards $35.5 Million in Overtime in 2025
- Arkansas Board of Corrections Settles Sunshine Law Charges, Caving to Governor’s Power Grab, by Chuck Sharman
- Monitor Says Massachusetts Prisons Will Not Meet Settlement Deadline for Mental Health Reforms, by Chuck Sharman
- Watchdog Finds Barely 1 in 10 Complaints Against California Prison Staff Handled Adequately, by Chuck Sharman
- Six Maryland Guards Convicted in Prisoner’s Beating, Cover-up; § 1983 Suit Filed, by Chuck Sharman
- Trump Wants $152 Million to Turn Alcatraz Back Into a Prison
- Trump Approves Firing Squads for Federal Executions
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- Negligence, Lack of Training at Ohio’s Cuyahoga County Jail Led to String of Deaths, by Michael Thompson
- Nevada Non-Profit Founder Under Investigation for Misconduct
- $750,000 Paid by NaphCare for New York Jail Suicide, by Chuck Sharman
- HRDC Sues Colorado Jail for Prohibiting Dozens of Magazines and Books, by Robert Haughn
- Connecticut Correction Ombuds Finds DOC in “Sustained Institutional Failure”, by Chuck Sharman
- Arrests of Unhoused People Driving Albuquerque Jail Bookings, by Michael Thompson
- Indiana DOC Found in Violation of State Public Records Act for Withholding Execution Drug Cost Information, by Chuck Sharman
- Federal Jury Awards $307.6 Million to Former Michigan Prisoner After Corizon Refused Surgery, Forcing Him to Wear Colostomy Bag for Two Years, by Robert Haughn
- Alabama DOC Terminates $1 Billion Contract with YesCare
- Prisons in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula “in a Death Spiral” Due to Under-Staffing
- Records Show Culture of Impunity Among Kentucky Prison Guards, by Jo Ellen Knott
- Prison Policy Initiative Updates Its Mass Incarceration Report, by Michael Thompson
- Texas Moves to Restrict Cashless Bond and Reverse Federal Court-Ordered Misdemeanor Bail Reform, by Matthew Clarke
- Judge Denies New York Prison Chief’s Motion to be Dismissed from Case Related to Robert Brooks’ Murder, by Michael Thompson
- Guaranteed Income Helps People Leaving Jail and Prison, and That Helps Everyone, by Aleks Kajstura
- News in Brief
More from Jo Ellen Nott:
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- $75 Million CoreCivic Contract to Reopen Minnesota Private Prison Creates Resistance from Activists and Lawmakers, Sept. 1, 2026
- Isolation and Medical Neglect at Illinois’ Joliet Treatment Center Drive Prisoners to Set Fatal Fires, Sept. 1, 2026
- Michigan DOC Legal Payouts Top $7 Million in FY 2025, Less than One Percent of $2.15 Billion Operating Budget, Sept. 1, 2026
- Ohio Finds Guards and Medical Staff Failed to Render Life-Saving CPR to Detainee, Sept. 1, 2026
- Troubled Illinois Lockup Sees Guard Abuses, Prisoners on Hunger Strike, Sept. 1, 2026
- New Commission to Investigate Death and Abuse of 230 Black Children at Segregated Maryland Reformatory, Sept. 1, 2026
- Four Massachusetts Guards Face Charges for Assault on Prisoners During Brawl, Sept. 1, 2026
- Wave of Staff Arrests Exposes Persistent Misconduct at South Carolina Jail, Sept. 1, 2026
- BOP Orders Prison Closures Amid Infrastructure Decay and Staff Shortages, Aug. 1, 2026
More from these topics:
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- Delaware’s Lack of Prison Healthcare Oversight, Sept. 1, 2026. Contractor Misconduct, Corrections Audits, Systemic Medical Neglect, Private Contractors, Grievances.
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- Rising Deaths in Los Angeles County Jail Linked to Longer Stays, Sept. 1, 2026. Systemic Medical Neglect, Drug Overdose, Statistics/Trends, Suicides, Reduction of Prison Population.
- What 911 Calls Reveal About Jail Operations, Sept. 1, 2026. Systemic Medical Neglect, Statistics/Trends, Failure to Protect (General), Staffing, Staff Training.
- States Claim to Invest in “Humane” New Prisons— But Prisons Were Never Humane, Sept. 1, 2026. Retaliation for Organizing, Hunger Strikes, Protests, Failure to Treat, Immigration Detention.