After being in ICE custody for simply 24 hours on the controversial Delaney Corridor ICE Detention Middle in Newark, “remarkably wholesome” Haitian asylum seeker Jean Wilson Brutus died. However his household is crying foul and has retained authorized counsel who’re working to conduct an investigation into his detainment and what probably led to his dying.
Jean, 41, was arrested by federal brokers on Dec.11, 2025. Upon completion of processing, he was despatched to Delaney Corridor. In response to an announcement from ICE, he had no indicators of misery throughout consumption nor a medical historical past of cardiovascular points. In addition they declare that each one detainees are held in protected environments.
However that’s not what Brutus’ household believes. They believe that he was a sufferer of Delaney’s infamous alleged abuses of detainees.
“At this early stage, our major focus is preserving and gathering proof to piece collectively what occurred to Mr. Brutus,” stated Brutus’ household legal professional Oliver T. Barry. “Whereas nonetheless early in our investigation, there are critical issues in regards to the conduct of ICE and the personal prisons with which they collaborate. The household desires to know what occurred to their beloved one. And that could be a need that I imagine everybody no matter race, creed, faith, or ideological disposition should acknowledge.”
The attorneys additionally stated that Jean’s household was shocked at an announcement put out by ICE. In a press assertion ICE referred to Jean as a “prison unlawful alien.”
The detention middle which was holding Jean has a historical past of mistreating folks. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker referred to as them out in a Fb publish final 12 months.
“The circumstances on the Delaney Corridor ICE detention facility in Newark are untenable,” Booker defined. “With critical safety lapses, quite a few reviews of mistreatment by employees of detainees, complaints of persistent meals shortages, and a troubling lack of transparency from facility directors, it’s clear that GEO Group has proven it can’t — or is not going to — function Delaney Corridor humanely or safely.
“I’ve lengthy opposed privately owned and operated immigration detention amenities as a result of they’re mired by rampant abuse and neglect of these of their care,” he continued.
Delaney Corridor was additionally the positioning of a jail strike final 12 months in June. In response to an ACLU New Jersey press launch, the strike was a response to inadequate meals, inedible meals, and lack of ingesting water. Additionally, a number of detained immigrants escaped by an exterior wall, later revealed to be constructed of plastic and hen wire.
“Each human life is sacred. Jean Wilson Brutus got here to this nation looking for a future as a New American, and as an alternative was caged by ICE and spent his final days in Delaney Corridor, a personal jail profiting off struggling, whereas folks report circumstances so monstrous we warned they’d value lives. Even in dying, they withheld dignity, failing to report it instantly,” stated Charlene Walker, government director of Religion in New Jersey, within the assertion.
