Eloy Detention Center — Pinal County AZ (CoreCivic)
Overview
The Eloy Detention Center is a 1,550-bed CoreCivic-operated ICE detention facility in Eloy, Pinal County, Arizona. It is part of the Pinal County detention cluster — the largest concentration of private detention beds in the country, with 11,200+ CoreCivic beds within a 20-mile radius.
Deaths in Custody
Eloy has been called the “deadliest immigration detention center in the United States” with at least 16 deaths including 5 suicides:
- Serawit Gezahegn Dejene (Ethiopian national) — died January 29, 2025
- Oscar Rascon Duarte (Mexican national) — died September 8, 2025
- Emmanuel Damas (Haitian national) — collapsed Feb. 19, 2026, died March 2, 2026. He had a massive infection in his mouth/throat. Detainees told lawmakers Damas had repeatedly asked to see a doctor for tooth pain; ICE and CoreCivic only sent him to the hospital after fellow detainees protested outside his cell. (Cronkite News, Mar. 3, 2026)
- Multiple prior deaths documented by the Florence Project and advocacy organizations
2026 Medical-Neglect Surge and Oversight Collapse
In March 2026, the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project warned of an “alarming increase” in ICE detainees in Arizona facing “potentially life-threatening medical neglect.” Nationally, at least 15 people died in ICE custody in the first ~quarter of 2026 (six in the first three weeks of January alone), on pace to exceed 2025’s 32.
A key compounding factor: the Trump administration gutted the federal oversight bodies (DHS CRCL, OIDO, the ICE detention ombudsman) that previously fielded and investigated complaints about medical abuse — so there is effectively no agency to respond to complaints from Eloy. ICE’s own watchdog (DHS OIG) has separately confirmed dangerous conditions at an Arizona immigration facility. KJZZ (Apr. 14, 2026) framed this as detention expanding while the monitoring mechanisms “are crumbling.”
Solitary Confinement as Coercion (May–June 2026) — NEW
A Solitary Watch report (May 29, 2026), amplified by an Arizona Daily Star investigation by Emily Bregel (June 2, 2026) based on seven months of interviews with dozens of detainees, documents Eloy as a focal facility for ICE’s use of solitary confinement to coerce detainees into abandoning their immigration claims and self-deporting — a practice experts say is unconstitutional. Detainees said they were isolated for refusing to self-deport, and for minor infractions (not cleaning a cell, hanging clothes on a bunk, covering an A/C vent). People who disclosed suicidal ideation were placed in isolation rather than given mental-health care.
Named Eloy cases include Narges Dehgani (Iranian survivor of kidnapping/rape/political persecution, placed in a parking-space-sized solitary cell for three days after disclosing suicidal thoughts at intake), teenager Samir Aghar (suicidal ideation), and Russian asylum-seeker Maksim Borisov. Nationally, ICE data show at least 22,400 people placed in solitary 2022–2026, with reporting gaps likely hiding the true count. ICE denies operating “solitary confinement,” calling it “segregation.” This extends the Eloy oversight-collapse pattern from medical neglect into psychological coercion.
Conditions
The Florence Project filed 53 complaints to DHS oversight from October 2022 to September 2024 documenting:
- Medical deficiencies
- Guard abuse
- Lack of legal access
- Disability rights violations
- Abusive use of segregation
The facility’s remote location (Eloy is ~60 miles south of Phoenix) creates significant barriers to legal representation.
The Pinal County Cluster
Eloy Detention Center sits within a remarkable concentration of CoreCivic facilities:
| Facility | Capacity | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|
| Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex (CAFCC) | 5,003 | ICE, USMS, multiple agencies |
| La Palma Correctional Center | 3,060 | ICE (converted from CA state prisoners 2019) |
| Eloy Detention Center | 1,550 | ICE |
| Red Rock Correctional Center | 1,596 | AZ Dept of Corrections |
| Saguaro Correctional Center | varies | Hawaii, Idaho DOC |
| Total cluster | 11,200+ |
Current Warden
Eric Rokosky (named January 2026).
Sources
- Cronkite News: In the wake of deaths at Eloy Detention Center, immigration advocates worry about lack of progress (March 3, 2026)
- Tucson Sentinel: Advocates warn of ‘alarming increase’ in Az ICE detainees suffering serious medical issues (March 20, 2026)
- ACLU: ICE’s Watchdog Agency Confirms Dangerous Conditions in Arizona Immigration Detention Facility
- KJZZ: ICE detention is expanding. The mechanisms that used to monitor it are crumbling (April 14, 2026)
- ICE: Florence Correctional Center
- CoreCivic: Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex
- KJZZ: ICE is using solitary confinement to coerce immigrants into self-deporting, a new report says (June 2, 2026)
- Davis Vanguard: Solitary Watch Reports ICE Use of Solitary Confinement to Pressure Individuals to Self-Deport (May 29, 2026)
- Tucson.com / Arizona Daily Star: Report — ICE facilities in AZ propel solitary confinement surge