Overview
- The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General published the report Thursday after a March 2025 unannounced inspection and reviewed video showing an officer apply a prohibited chokehold and another stab a detainee’s thumb with a pen.
- Inspectors found unsafe conditions in the Winn Correctional Center kitchen and housing areas, including leaking vents, falling insulation, makeshift water collection with napkins and Styrofoam, and refrigerators that held perishables above safe temperatures.
- The OIG identified lapses in transparency and recordkeeping: staff sometimes failed to notify the ICE field office about use‑of‑force incidents, some videos were incomplete, and the facility lacked a system to document when officers received remedial training or discipline.
- The watchdog issued nine formal recommendations covering environmental health, use‑of‑force handling, and food‑service standards; ICE and DHS described many findings as minor, said they have corrected food‑temperature problems, and reported plans for additional training.
- Winn houses roughly 1,500 men with about 70% listed by ICE as no threat, and the report arrives as the OIG expands inspections and lawmakers and advocates press for greater oversight of detention conditions, a development that could lead to more frequent audits and congressional scrutiny.