miamiherald In cramped, scorching-hot cells, the men sleep in their underwear to keep cool. They watch vermin scuttling through their cells amid the smell of feces and urine overflowing from broken toilets. Those are some of the harsh conditions that detainees in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody described experiencing in recent weeks at the Federal Detention Center, a Bureau of Prisons facility located in a concrete tower in downtown Miami. A year ago, a Miami Herald investigation found that immigrants held in the federal prison — when ICE started housing detained immigrants there as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportations — faced dire conditions, including crumbling infrastructure and excessive use of force. The grim circumstances have since continued, according to the accounts of five immigrants detained there, their lawyers and loved ones. An employee at the prison also confirmed to the Herald poor conditions — including roaches so widespread that some officers don’t want to work in certain units. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data shows an average daily population of 460 as of early April at FDC. After last month’s fires near the Krome detention center, ICE relocated people out of precautions. In turn, officers and detainees noted an uptick in FDC’s population. Countless cockroaches crawl around their cells and sometimes turn up in the food, detainees and their relatives said. Many of the toilets don’t flush and are spilling over with waste. They said the heat is so extreme that they sweat through their bedsheets. When the men complain of medical conditions to the officers, they are frequently turned away, the families and detainees said in recordings obtained by the Herald. 🔗: Read more at the link in our bio ✍️: Syra Ortiz Blanes and Churchill Ndonwie 📷: @pportalphoto View all 97 comments