MACCLENNY, Fla. – A Florida congressman is calling for the closure of the Baker County Detention Center in Macclenny after a whistleblower report and a complaint alleging civil rights violations at the facility.
The ACLU of Florida says it has received almost 500 complaints about the detention center since 2020.
The whistleblower, who was identified as a former medical worker at the facility, testified that staff denied inmates basic medical care and that they falsified records.
The whistleblower’s testimony also backed up the account of a young woman who said she was sexually abused at the detention center.
Congressman Maxwell Frost joined the ACLU on Monday for a conversation about the complaints involving the facility.
“It’s difficult for people’s stories to get out... They don’t have access. They’re scared of retaliation,” Frost said. “I went to this detention center and did a surprise visit, and what I saw was horrible.”
Baker County Sheriff Scotty Rhoden responded to the congressman’s comments on Facebook:
“To clarify, the Baker County Detention Center is NOT being closed. There is an ongoing civil case that I cannot discuss at this time, as is standard practice and under the advice of my attorneys. I will provide a response once the civil case is resolved, as that will be the appropriate time to do so.”
“I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to our dedicated Detention staff. They do an outstanding job, and I am incredibly proud of their unwavering commitment to the citizens of Baker County.”
Earlier this year, the News4JAX I-TEAM obtained an inspection report from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the federal wing of the Baker County Detention Center. It was described in a federal complaint as a “living hell.”
Meredith Al-Rebaki said her husband was detained in the federal wing of the facility for 16 months while his lawyer fought his immigration case in court. She says her husband was denied his medication.
“The things are being brought to light are continually happening, they are escalating because Baker County has consistently been able to act without accountability,” Al-Rebaki said. “I was met in silence, or my concerns were dismissed, so my husband was put in a situation where his life was in jeopardy because of the immediate stop of the medication he relied on. He was constantly threatened with solitary confinement.”
Guards are also accused of denying detainees clean water to drink, and detainees using socks as toilet paper because of a lack of paper products.
“We’ve received hundreds of complaints from the people at Baker, egregious complaints. I’ve been on several hotline cases,” ACLU attorney Amy Godshall said.
In response, the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Liberties produced a series of recommendations to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including mandatory discrimination, retaliation and harassment training for all staff, adequate legal resources, and adequate language access service, including language translation services.