Folkston detainees use video calls to show conditions inside ICE facility

Four men detained at the Folkston ICE Processing Center in rural Georgia used the facility’s video calling software to describe conditions inside and criticize changes to the immigration court system under President Donald Trump. The five-minute video circulated online, though it is unclear exactly how the men recorded it.

One man, Idris Makhmudov, said he had been detained at Folkston for 27 months. He said detainees in the facility’s work program are paid $1 a day, enough for a 10-minute phone call. Immigration attorney Samantha Hamilton said the men shown in the video had since been placed in segregation. She said they faced retaliation and expected it.

After the video appeared, 45 detainees wrote an open letter about conditions at Folkston, and an estimated 73 detainees were on a hunger strike, according to The Verge. Hamilton said each group of 60 to 70 detainees has access to only three or four tablets.

Detainees use GettingOut, software owned by Telmate, for messages, photos, and calls. The Verge reports that Telmate was ordered to pay $4.23 million to settle a lawsuit over a 2020 data breach. The facility is owned and operated by GEO Group and has capacity for 780 people, with a guaranteed minimum occupancy of 544, according to the article.