Widow sues over man's death at immigration center
Associated Press
Mon February 9, 2009
Area: Providence, New Bedford
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island - A Chinese immigrant held at a privately operated detention center was denied medical care, abused and accused of faking his illness in the weeks before he died of cancer, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by the man's widow.
Hiu Lui "Jason" Ng (HYEW' Lew Eng), a 34-year-old computer engineer accused of overstaying his visa, died of liver cancer in August, weeks after being taken to the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls. His cancer went undiagnosed until days before he died.
"They treated him like he was a piece of furniture. They treated him like an animal," said Jack McConnell, a volunteer lawyer for the Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Ng's widow, Lin Li Qu.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement determined Ng was mistreated and denied access to medical care. The agency pulled immigration detainees out of the facility in December before terminating its contract with Wyatt.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, names the facility's owners, warden and staff and another facility in Vermont, where Ng was held before being moved to Wyatt. It also names ICE officials, who it says scheduled the Hartford trip to get back at Ng after his attorney went to federal court to try to get him medical care.
The facility is owned and operated by the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation and houses federal detainees who are awaiting trial or custody by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Wyatt spokeswoman Margaret Lynch-Gadaleta said it was premature to comment on the lawsuit.
Michael Gilhooly, an ICE spokesman, would not comment on the allegations, but said ICE's investigation, done three days before the agency permanently canceled its contract with Wyatt, found employees violated ICE's national detention standards.
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