Overview

The Adelanto ICE Processing Center and its adjacent Desert View Annex form the largest ICE detention complex in California, with 2,690 beds operated by GEO Group in the High Desert of San Bernardino County. The facility has become a focal point of the national detention conditions crisis, with multiple deaths, a major federal lawsuit, and a tripling of solitary confinement.

Key Details

• Capacity: 2,690 beds (main facility + Desert View Annex)
• Current population: average daily population 1,587 as of April 21, 2026; ~2,000 held at peak in spring 2026 (per LAist/state reporting)
• Operator: GEO Group (for-profit)
• Annual contract value: $142M+ from ICE
• Population surge: From 7 detainees in 2023 to 1,570 in 2025

Deaths in Custody

• Ismael Ayala-Uribe, 39, DACA recipient — died September 2025
• Gabriel Garcia-Aviles, 56 — died October 2025 (detained only ~1 week)
• Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano — died March 25, 2026 (14th national ICE death of 2026)

Hunger Strike (May–June 2026) — EXPANDING

The strike that began in the Desert View Annex (~May 21) has spread into the main Adelanto ICE Processing Center and grown substantially:

• Scale (as of ~May 31–June 1): ~50 strikers in the west wing of the main facility plus ~20 in Desert View Annex, with the strike reaching the east wing; roughly 150 detainees signed a petition of demands (not all on strike). Earlier reports cited “at least 100” inside the main IPC.
• Congressional pressure: Reps. Judy Chu, Pete Aguilar, and Jimmy Gomez visited to assess hunger strikers’ conditions; Rep. Norma Torres also visited the facility over reported unsafe conditions. Chu held a press conference outside the facility June 1, 2026 and said there have been deaths beyond those publicly reported.
• Medical/safety allegations in the petition: a detainee attempting suicide; one person reportedly seizing for ~30 minutes without medical response; an Iranian woman with a weeks-long untreated UTI.
• Coercion / retaliation claims: advocates report staff placed burritos on strikers’ beds to pressure them to eat, and that the community hotline detainees use was cut during calls after the strike began.
• DHS / GEO denial: DHS called the hunger strike reports “FALSE… There is no hunger strike at Adelanto. No one is being abused.” GEO Group called the allegations “baseless” and part of a “politically motivated campaign.”

Demands remain: proper medical and mental-health care, nutritious food, accountability for detainee deaths, bond reform, and the right to organize. State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez issued a statement in support (May).

Conditions

• Solitary confinement tripled: 14 people in May 2025 to 105 by August 2025; Adelanto now ranks among the top 10 U.S. facilities by share of population in segregation (LAist, 2026)
• CA AG Bonta report: Staffing levels have not kept pace with population surge; conditions deteriorated
• Federal lawsuit (January 2026): Coalition of immigrant advocacy groups alleges medical neglect, inhumane conditions, systemic abuse, failure to provide basic care, food, water, sanitary conditions
• Detainee letters: Describe isolation, chronic medical conditions going untreated, no specialist access

Sources

• ABC7 — Federal lawsuit alleges inhumane conditions
• Austin Kocher — ICE Reports 14th Death of 2026 at Adelanto
• LA Public Press — Immigrants denounce lack of medical care
• CA AG — Inhumane Conditions at Adelanto
• LA Today — Solitary confinement spike
• KVCR — Letters describe isolation, medical concerns
• LAist — Solitary at Adelanto (2026)
• Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez — Statement on Adelanto hunger strike (May 2026)
• L.A. TACO — Adelanto hunger strike expands to east wing, staff tempts strikers with burrito (June 2026)
• Rep. Norma Torres — Visits Adelanto ICE facility following hunger strike, unsafe conditions reports (2026)
• Reps. Chu, Aguilar, Gomez — Assess condition of hunger strikers at Adelanto (June 2026)
• ABC7 — DHS disputes hunger strike claims at Adelanto (June 2026)