Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the death of Carlos Josue Marchena-Marchena, 36, a Costa Rican national who died while held at the Winnfield Correctional Center in Louisiana, on Sept. 22.
ICE issued the formal detainee death notification pursuant to agency reporting protocols. Marchena-Marchena died on Sept. 18. ICE described him as a criminal illegal alien in the notification, according to the agency’s standard detainee death reporting procedures.
Detainee death notifications are required under ICE protocols whenever a person in custody dies, regardless of cause. The notification did not include a cause of death, which is typically determined through subsequent investigation and medical examination.
Deaths in ICE custody are subject to independent review and investigation, typically by ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility and, in some cases, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General.
Winnfield Correctional Center is a contract detention facility used by ICE. Contract facilities house the majority of ICE detainees nationwide and are operated by private companies or state and local governments under agreements with the federal government.
Deaths in immigration detention are subject to heightened congressional, legal and public scrutiny. Federal protocols require formal notification and independent review, and each case raises questions about detention conditions, medical care standards and oversight of contract facilities.
ICE detains an average of more than 30,000 people per day in facilities across the country. The agency is required to provide access to medical care for detainees under its custody standards.
The Costa Rican Embassy in Washington has been notified, consistent with standard consular notification procedures under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
ICE said additional information would be released as the review process proceeds.