During her visit in recent months, Emelie said her husband was detained in Stewart until he was deported last month and described a severe overcrowding. “He told me that once Trump takes over, they push out mats in the hall. People sleep there.”
Emelie is a pseudonym for privacy. She said the situation had caused obvious harm to her husband, who had lost weight, became increasingly anxious and struggled to fall asleep in the face of noise and tension. He described having to wait a long time between meals. She said he made multiple morbid phone requests when her husband fell out of the flu and had a high fever, but never received care. “He had Covid-19 once,” she said. “The same thing. People get sick and just get worse.”
“You don’t have a chance to be in Stewart, it’s a death penalty for you and your family,” Emily said.
Asked about Stewart being overcrowded, Todd told Wired: “Everyone in our care has a bed.” But three attorneys who regularly visit the facility said their clients have been describing sleeping on the floor or in plastic containers with thin pads. Three relatives of the current and former detainees have confirmed the accounts.
When asked how to define a “bed”, Corecivic did not respond.
Scramble to deal with it
The consequences of overcrowding are far beyond Stewart.
“We’re seeing more diversions happen suddenly and frantically,” said Jeff Migliozzi, director of communications for nonprofit immigration freedoms, which runs the national immigration detention hotline. “They are fighting for it.” The hotline has more than doubled from 700 people in December to 1,600 in March. Migliozzi said many people didn’t get answers because the lines are usually too busy.
Scheduled data obtained from these detention facilities across the United States reflects a surge. Six of the 10 facilities online reviews experienced a sharp month spike on 911 calls sometime in 2025, and in some cases, emergency dispatch tripled more than tripled. For example, nearly 80 emergency calls were sent from the remote South Texas Ice Processing Center between January and May. The number of calls in March more than tripled, rising from 10 in February to 31 years old. In a week, dispatchers made 11 separate calls on the facility, operated by Geo Group, one of the largest for-profit prison operators in the United States.
Migliozzi warned that the rise in 911 calls does not necessarily indicate deterioration in conditions, but may only reflect a surge in detainee populations within the already terrible system. Other experts point out that the increase in calls may indicate that employees are seeking help faster and faster – although instead, the decline may be equally easy to point out delayed responses rather than fewer crises
Three of the seven 911 calls obtained by Wired, which involved suicide attempts, came from the South Texas Center: In February, a 36-year-old man swallowed 20 over-the-counter medications. In March, a 37-year-old detainee ingested cleaning chemicals. Two weeks later, a 41-year-old man was found to have cut himself.
Anthony Enriquez, Robert Kennedy vice president of human rights advocacy, said immigration detention should not be punitive. “But the conditions for detention are so cruel that people committed suicide while waiting for the day in court,” he said.
