A 33-year-old Cuban immigrant died at a Georgia detention facility earlier this week, prompting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death at the sprawling private prison compound. Denny Adán González was found unresponsive in his living area at Stewart detention center in Lumpkin on Tuesday night around 10:26pm, according to notification sent to Congress and reviewed Friday.
CoreCivic, the private company operating the facility, said staff called for medical emergency services immediately upon discovering González. Emergency responders arrived but were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead at 11:11pm. ICE's congressional notification lists the suspected cause as suicide, though the official cause remains under investigation.
González becomes the 18th person to die in ICE custody during 2026. His death marks the fourth suicide recorded at Stewart detention center alone. Three other detainees have died by suicide at the facility in recent years: a Panamanian immigrant in a solitary confinement cell in 2017, a Mexican national in a solitary unit in 2018, and another Mexican man, 45, last summer.
According to immigration records, González had been previously deported in 2020 before re-entering the United States in 2022. He was taken into ICE custody in January of this year following his arrest in December on charges of assault on a female and domestic violence.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Author James Rodriguez: "Another death in detention exposes the crushing reality inside facilities run for profit, where suicide keeps recurring at the same location year after year without apparent systemic change."
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