In recent months, the spotlight has intensified on the conditions inside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, as a surge in solitary confinement placements and a string of in-custody deaths have sparked renewed calls for oversight and reform. Two facilities—a sprawling Pennsylvania center and a controversial California site—have drawn particular scrutiny following reports of rising isolation rates, civil rights allegations, and the tragic deaths of multiple detainees, including a Chinese national whose passing remains shrouded in unanswered questions.
According to a new report by Harvard University researchers and Physicians for Human Rights, nearly 14,000 individuals were placed in solitary confinement in immigrant detention centers nationwide between April 2024 and August 2025. The Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, stood out for its staggering numbers: more than 1,900 people were held in solitary there from April 2024 through May 2025—the highest figure among all centers evaluated. This facility, located roughly 90 minutes from Philadelphia, is the largest ICE detention center in the Northeast. As Axios reports, it has recently come under fire after advocacy groups raised alarms about alleged civil rights abuses and the death of a Chinese detainee awaiting an immigration hearing.
Solitary confinement, as defined by the United Nations, becomes psychological torture when it extends beyond 15 days. The Harvard and Physicians for Human Rights report found that in 2025, such placements have increasingly surpassed this threshold. Particularly disturbing is the plight of detainees labeled as "vulnerable"—including those with mental health challenges. Between April 2024 and May 2025, these individuals spent an average of 38 days in isolation during the first quarter of 2025, a sharp rise from the 14-day average recorded in 2021. ICE’s own directives recommend that solitary be used for people with mental health conditions only as a last resort, yet the data suggests otherwise.
Patty Torres, co-executive director of Make the Road Pennsylvania, minced no words in her assessment. “Solitary confinement is torture,” she told Axios, echoing a chorus of advocates demanding the closure of Moshannon Valley. Their calls grew louder after the facility reportedly barred Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) from conducting an oversight visit in August 2025, shortly after ICE officials found a detainee hanging inside. Scanlon’s office confirmed she was turned away at the gates, fueling suspicions about transparency and accountability within the center’s walls.
While the Department of Homeland Security and ICE declined to comment to Axios, the report’s findings have prompted urgent recommendations: state and local officials should leverage their authority to end or restrict the use of solitary confinement in facilities that contract with ICE. Yet, as the report also notes, ICE’s data is often incomplete—meaning the actual numbers could be even higher.
Some jails and prisons have claimed to move away from solitary, opting instead for “administrative segregation.” However, prisoner advocates argue this is little more than a rebranding, with minimal real difference in practice. The push for reform faces resistance, even as mounting evidence suggests the mental and physical toll of prolonged isolation is severe, especially for those already at risk.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country, the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California, became the focus of national attention on October 3, 2025, when Huabing Xie, an immigrant from China, died after suffering a seizure while in ICE custody. According to ICE, Xie had been arrested on September 12, 2025, in Indio for being in the U.S. without legal status and had been held at the Calexico center since then. Staff reportedly administered CPR and used a defibrillator, but Xie was pronounced dead later that day at El Centro Regional Medical Center.
Imperial County immigrants’ rights advocates expressed heartbreak and outrage at the news, insisting Xie’s death was part of a wider pattern of neglect and harsh conditions. “This is not an isolated incident,” said Marina Arteaga, organizer with the Imperial Liberation Collaborative, in an interview with KPBS. Arteaga noted that her group, which had been visiting detainees since 2022 to document their experiences, was completely shut out of the facility as of August 2025. “We have not been able to go inside the facility,” she said. “We don't know what's going on.”
Xie’s death was the second reported in ICE custody in California within just two weeks. On September 21, 2025, 39-year-old Ismael Ayala-Uribe died at the Adelanto detention center after developing a cough and fever. These incidents come during what several Democratic senators have called the deadliest six-month period for immigrants in federal detention since 2018. ICE has publicly acknowledged at least 14 deaths in custody nationwide since January 2025, but the true number may be higher—Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have pointed to an unacknowledged death at a New York county jail, raising the total to at least 17.
The Imperial Regional Detention Facility, operated by Management and Training Corporation (MTC), can hold up to 782 detainees and received over $44 million annually from ICE as of 2022. The center has faced previous allegations of abuse: in 2021, Carlos Murillo Vega sued MTC for keeping him in solitary for over a year, and in 2022, nine detainees filed a civil rights complaint about moldy cells and water that tasted like bleach. Earlier this year, the California Attorney General’s office found the facility struggled to hire a medical director, resulting in “delays in addressing clinical errors by lower-level health staff.”
Advocates and local officials are now calling for independent investigations into Xie’s death and broader oversight of the facility’s medical care and conditions. Daniela Flores, executive director of the Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition, emphasized the need for answers. “That is putting myself into his family's shoes,” Flores told KPBS. “Knowing that they probably want answers.” Both Flores and Arteaga have urged California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Imperial County public health officials to look into the matter.
Despite California law granting county officials the authority to inspect ICE detention centers within their jurisdiction, Imperial County and most others have not exercised this power, as reported by Calmatters. Calexico Mayor Diana Noricumbo stated that the detention center sits in an unincorporated part of the city, outside municipal jurisdiction. KPBS reached out to all five Imperial County supervisors and a county spokesperson, but none responded by publication time.
ICE, meanwhile, is in the midst of a massive expansion, flush with $45 billion in new Congressional funding. The agency is building new tent camps and increasing use of military bases to meet President Donald Trump’s pledge of mass deportations. But as the network grows, so do concerns about oversight, medical care, and the basic rights of those detained within its walls.
As advocates press for reform and families mourn loved ones lost in custody, the debate over solitary confinement and detainee welfare is unlikely to fade soon. For now, the stories emerging from Pennsylvania and California serve as stark reminders of the urgent need for transparency, accountability, and humane treatment in America’s immigration system.