Nooses found in California immigration detention center

ADELANTO, Calif. (AP) — Federal inspectors found nooses made from bedsheets hanging in more than a dozen cells at an immigration detention facility in Southern California, according to a government report.

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General issued a scathing report after visiting the privately-run detention facility in the city of Adelanto in May, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

Inspectors found nooses in 15 of 20 cells they visited at the center operated by the GEO Group for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and said guards told them that removing the sheets was not a high priority.

Some detainees said they used the braided sheets as clotheslines or unfurled them for privacy. One detainee told inspectors he had seen them used for attempted suicides and that "the guards laugh at them and call them 'suicide failures' once they are back from medical,'" the report said.

Pablo Paez, a spokesman for GEO, referred questions about the report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Lori Haley, an ICE spokeswoman, said the agency takes the findings seriously and will conduct an immediate review of the facility.

"ICE recognizes that this can present a dangerous safety vulnerability and will intensify efforts to address this issue," she said.

Immigrants have long complained about conditions at the detention center in a remote, desert community 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles.