The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of Sara Hernandez-Gonzalez. Roberto Medina-Martinez died in March 2009 after having been held for about a month at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. An autopsy showed he died of myocarditis, an inflammatory heart disease.
The lawsuit alleges the medical staff at the Stewart Detention Center, which is operated by Corrections Corporation of America, the same company that runs a similar facility in Gainesville, was negligent and didn't provide proper medical care to Medina-Martinez. It seeks $1 million in damages for his wife.
ICE and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. ICE in September rejected a previous claim for $1 million from Hernandez-Gonzalez.
(AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)
Stewart Detention Center, above, is operated by Corrections Corporation of America, which operates a similar facility in Gainesville.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2012/3/246913