Judge Orders Adverse Inference Against CoreCivic in ICE Detainee Death Case

A federal judge sanctioned CoreCivic for destroying video evidence in a lawsuit alleging the wrongful death of an ICE detainee who died by suicide in custody. The sanction came in December during a pretrial hearing in the case involving Kesley Vial, a 23-year-old Brazilian asylum seeker.

Vial died at a hospital on August 24, 2022, seven days after attempting suicide at the CoreCivic-owned Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia, New Mexico.

Vial's family sent CoreCivic a preservation letter on the day he died. The company later produced a report with 49 still images but did not provide video from 14 of 15 cameras in use that day. Judge Francis J. Mathew ruled that the destruction of evidence warranted an adverse inference instruction to the jury.

The order would have allowed jurors to presume the missing footage was unfavorable to CoreCivic.

Reached an undisclosed settlement with Vial's family in March. The trial had been scheduled to begin in January. Rebecca Sheff, senior staff attorney at ACLU New Mexico, said the company routinely overwrites video evidence even after receiving preservation notices. Immigration attorney Laboni Hoq said accountability is needed when prison companies fail to preserve evidence.

2 billion in revenue last year.

The company is one of the two largest private prison operators in the United States. Eighteen people have died in immigration detention this year as of May 1, according to The Intercept. Immigration attorney Jeremy Jong said families often face long delays when video evidence is unavailable.