Court-Appointed Monitor Finds Systemic Health Care Failures — California City, CA

Dr. Muthusamy Anandkumar, appointed by a federal judge in March as an independent monitor of the CoreCivic-run California City Immigration Processing Center, found deficiencies across 13 areas of care — including delayed access to medications for life-threatening conditions, months-long delays in cancer treatment, inadequate emergency and dental services, and staffing so thin that untrained personnel were training new employees. “The facility lacks a reliable system to consistently provide adequate health care, placing individuals at serious risk of both immediate and long-term harm,” he wrote, calling it evidence of “broader problems in the facility’s healthcare delivery system rather than occasional lapses in care.” The monitor was appointed in a lawsuit brought by seven detainees alleging due process violations. Plaintiff Sokhean Keo said he never received prescribed medication for an infection: “If there is no change to this system, sick people are going to die.”