Sewage flooding cells inside Torrance County ICE prison again, advocates say

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Concertina wire tops a fence at a detention facility. (Getty Images)

Advocates for people held in an immigration detention center in Estancia, N.M. say sewage is again backing up into their cells, and they do not have access to clean drinking water.

The Town of Estancia, where the prison is located, posted on social media on Monday asking residents to conserve water. The well serving the community is not producing enough to meet demands, Torrance County Manager Jordan Barela said in a statement on Thursday.

Tiffany Wang, an attorney with the Oregon-based Innovation Law Lab who regularly speaks with people held inside the Torrance County Detention Facility, told Source NM they’ve reported since Monday there has been “absolutely no access to water,” leaving them unable to flush toilets or take showers and exacerbating illnesses and hygiene issues.

“Several reports indicate that stagnant human waste has sat in sites across the facility and that people are resorting to desperate measures such as fasting in order to avoid defecating and defecating on paper plates to put into the trash instead of using toilets, which they are unable to flush,” Wang said.

In addition to detaining migrants, the Torrance County lockup holds people facing federal charges and serves as the county’s jail. It’s owned and operated by private prison company CoreCivic. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts with the county to provide space to hold detained people, and Torrance County contracts with CoreCivic to facilitate the agreement with ICE. President Donald Trump is rapidly expanding immigration detention through billion-dollar contracts with CoreCivic and other private prison companies, Stateline reports.

Spokespeople for CoreCivic and the county government on Friday acknowledged a shortage of water, but denied allegations that the prison doesn’t have any or that sewage is flooding the cells.

Ryan Gustin, senior director of public affairs for CoreCivic, told Source NM any claim that Torrance has been without running water since Monday “is completely false.”

While the prison changed its operations to reduce water consumption, Gustin said, drinking water is always available in the cell pods and staff have given people bottled water. Wang told Source inmates have told her that this is limited to two bottles per day.

“At no point have those in our care been without drinking water,” Gustin said. He said laundry and showers have been “placed on a schedule” but remain available to everyone.

The ongoing conservation measures are meant to ensure the town doesn’t reach critically low levels in its water storage tank, Barela, the county manager, told Source NM. She said the prison’s water tank “has never been empty,” people held there “have had enough water to meet basic water needs during this time,” and the well is being repaired.

Wang said the possibility that some limited amount of water remains in the facility’s tank “does not change the truth that people detained inside TCDF say they have now gone since Monday without running water to meet their basic needs.”

CoreCivic, county deny evacuation

Innovation Law Lab on Tuesday informed ICE El Paso Field Office Director Mary De Anda-Ybarra about specifically where the problems are happening inside the prison, according to emails the group shared with Source NM. De Anda-Ybarra responded the same day by asking for more information and then the next morning, told them “we are looking into the matter.”

Wang said following the law lab’s letter to the ICE field office, the detained men told her officials  evacuated them from one dormitory with a history of sewage flooding. She said prison staff are making detained people clean the feces themselves without personal protective equipment.

CoreCivic and the county also deny these allegations. A spokesperson for ICE did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

“There are also no sewage flooding issues, nor have we had to relocate any residents,” Gustin said.

Barela said she is unaware of any “systemic issues” when it comes to sewage backups in the prison, and maintenance issues are addressed as they come up. “To my knowledge, TCDF has rectified all building maintenance issues within a reasonable time frame after becoming aware of the concerns,” she said.

Wang said Torrance has a “well-documented record of failing plumbing infrastructure,” and shared a map of flooding issues in nearly every cell pod.

“Claims that CoreCivic and Torrance County are unaware of systemic sewage flooding issues are disingenuous and false,” she said.

In interviews with legal advocates and researchers, people detained inside Torrance have described cells “inundated with dirty water” in 2024; entire cell pods flooded with raw sewage in 2023; and broken sinks and water fountains in 2022. New Mexico’s Congressional delegation cited these issues and others when they repeatedly asked former President Joe Biden to close Torrance, but he refused.

‘A public health crisis’

Wang said people detained in Torrance already have various illnesses that would be exacerbated by a lack of potable water, including a gallbladder infection requiring an operation, epilepsy, vision issues and diabetes.

Gustin said CoreCivic hasn’t received any reports of incarcerated people or staff becoming sick as a result of the water problem.

Wang said the county and CoreCivic’s comments “fly in the face of numerous testimonies from detained individuals and their families stating that the facility has been without water for flushing toilets or showering since Monday.”

“It is remarkable, but unfortunately not surprising, that CoreCivic and Torrance County officials are currently attempting to claim that plumbing and water issues are unfounded or have been resolved,” she said. “It speaks to the impunity and dishonesty with which CoreCivic, ICE, and Torrance County collaborate to operate TCDF.”

Wang said it’s shameful that CoreCivic and the county “continue to profit at the expense of the health of detained individuals and the wellbeing of the town of Estancia.”

“ICE and CoreCivic should halt further transfers of people into TCDF, which is in the midst of a public health crisis, release all the people currently detained inside, and finally shut TCDF down,” she said.

This post was originally authored and published by Austin Fisher from via RSS Feed. to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.