MILAN, N.M. (AP) — A dozen Cuban asylum-seekers detained in a New Mexico say they have repeatedly been placed in solitary confinement for going on hunger strikes.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports two asylum-seekers in federal immigration custody said they and 10 others were put in solitary confinement twice as punishment for protesting their lengthy stay in prison.
The men are being held at the privately run Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, New Mexico.
Juan Carlos Peña Pavon told the newspaper he spent nine days in solitary confinement.
The 51-year-old Peña Pavon is part of a group of detained asylum-seekers that last month staged sit-ins at Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico.
A spokeswoman at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s El Paso field office did not respond to an email.
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Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, http://www.santafenewmexican.com