The debacle last week caused by two escaped inmates from the privately owned GEO ICE prison in Aurora not only destroyed what little credibility the Trump administration clings to, but the morass raised new questions about whether the public and inmates are safe from mismanagement of the facility.
The most recent public danger from the GEO ICE detention center at 3130 Oakland St. became public last week after GEO employees called Aurora police to report that two inmates had escaped — four hours before employees called police for help. Not only did they lose two inmates, saying there was a power outage, but then Trump ICE and Homeland Security officials unsuccessfully tried to blame Aurora police for the gaffe.
One of the two escaped men was spotted and apprehended by an Adams County sheriff’s deputy 12 miles away from the prison almost two days later. The other escapee is, presumably, still on the lam. It’s difficult to know because ICE and Homeland Security officials are not transparent nor forthcoming about operations and inmates, and they are increasingly dishonest.
According to Homeland Security and ICE officials, a power outage occurred at the facility at about 9:30 p.m. last Tuesday. It’s unclear whether the outage affected only the GEO prison or an area surrounding the prison.
Regardless, prison officials told Aurora police that an investigation that night and the next day revealed that two inmates left the facility through a door to the outside that may have become unlocked when the power cut out.
Reportedly, prison officials began counting prisoners and first determined at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, three hours later, two inmates were missing. At some point, GEO workers identified who the missing inmates were.
Police records show that GEO ICE officials called Aurora police at about 2:30 a.m. to report the missing men, but the message delivered to police was unclear what had actually happened, police said, hours after the men had clearly escaped.
Aurora police sent a squad car and an officer to the prison at 5:30 a.m. to get a clearer picture of what was wrong.
Just a short time after that, Trump ICE officials began telling the media that Aurora police had ignored their urgent pleas for help, saying that the cops were acting sympathetically to the escaped immigrants.
“This is not anything like what has been portrayed,” Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said at a later press conference in an attempt to set the story straight.
The chief was right, and Aurora police have indisputable proof of that.
It’s unclear whether the ICE officials who were trying to peddle that false narrative were acting out of incompetence or just outright lying, but Aurora offered the public records of what really happened, and the Trump administration offered proven falsehoods.
Unanswered so far is, how inept this privately run prison is so that the inmates are able to escape when the power goes out? Colorado has no shortage of jails, detention centers and prisons, and this state, like most, has no shortage of power outages. Does this operation have no plans or ability to protect the inmates or the public every time the power goes off?
Just as worrisome, when the power does go off at this private prison, it takes hours to determine whether the facility’s potentially 1,500 inmates and staff are accounted for, and presumably safe.
Also, does this operation not have some kind of manual or experience in what to do when they believe an inmate has escaped the prison? Everyone in Aurora would be distressed to know that employees are told only to call 911 before the end of their shift.
The most worrisome part of this, however, is that officials from GEO, ICE and HSI were not only dishonest about what really happened, and tried to wrongly place blame on Aurora police, but when confronted by police about HSI misinformation, they had no interest in publicly correcting their fact-less polemic.
This facility has been a serious hazard to inmates and the public for years.
When first elected to Congress in 2018, Rep. Jason Crow, D-Aurora, and some city councilmembers worked valiantly, and unsuccessfully, to force the private prison to be transparent about who they kept and report the condition of the inmates. After years of trying, Congress has begrudgingly offered only minimal assistance, under multiple presidential administrations, in allowing the public to ensure inmates are properly cared for.
More than one inmate has died at the hands of GEO prison employees. Kamyar Samimi died in the detention center Dec. 2, 2017. The 64-year-old Iranian immigrant, who’d lived in the United States for years, had become addicted to opioids in Iran at the age of 6, his family told the Sentinel. When he was detained at the center, a prison employee took him off his nearly lifelong treatment of Methadone, and he died after complications from the change. His family wasn’t notified of his death for two days.
Melvin Ariel Calero-Mendoza, 39, a Nicaraguan asylum seeker, died at the detention center in 2023 of a pulmonary embolism after sustaining a series of injuries to his right leg while in the facility, according to records obtained by the Sentinel.
The documents and investigation raised questions about the medical treatment of people in immigration detention centers, and whether his death was preventable.
Reports show he injured himself during recreation time playing soccer, and despite complaints of pain from that injury, was given only analgesics and told to use cold and warm compresses, despite his failing health.
For years, Aurora police, firefighters and county health officials have struggled with this prison in an effort to ensure professional and competent emergency and urgent services, which are inevitable in a large prison setting like the GEO ICE facility.
Just as problematic, has been the ability for members of Congress, city and state officials, activists, the ACLU and the media to get factual and transparent accounts of inmates and what happens inside the prison.
Given the clearly incompetent and possibly corrupt nature of the new Trump administration in its handling of immigration matters, the public cannot count on the administration for assistance. In fact, the Trump administration may become the biggest problem yet for Aurora with this mismanaged detention center.
The only hope for the Aurora community, and others, is that the courts and Congress will see the danger this detention center poses, and how that danger is amplified by the administration’s dishonesty and incompetence to properly administer and supervise its operations.
The Colorado congressional caucus needs to begin work immediately on forcing the Trump administration to bring in competent professional oversight and offer immediate transparency to stem what could too easily become a tragic humanitarian crisis.
The Colorado congressional caucus I presume includes GOP members. Do you really think there are any GOP members who will actually stand up to Trump? If so, you’ve been smoking something. This is the olé congress. They won’t raise red cape, just a slightly pink one and Trump charges right through it. I have no confidence that this GOP is anything like the GOP that stopped Nixon!