Forced Hysterectomies being done at ICE detention center

The Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Georgia is under investigation for complaints about detainees being forced to have hysterectomies and not providing proper care for its detainees. A whistleblower complaint was filed on behalf of Dawn Wooten, a former nurse who worked at ICDC. The complaint stated that the detention facility refused to test their inmates for coronavirus and performed hysterectomies at an unnecessarily high rate, without the valid consent of the patients.

Immigration advocates from Project South spoke with several women who had hysterectomies done and the reactions they obtained were far from positive. Some women were confused regarding the surgical procedure and did not understand why they were being forced to have their uterus taken out. Other women said that nurses obtained their consent by translating through Google. Some of the procedures were done poorly and at an unprofessional level. One woman mentioned her doctor admitted to the nurse that he had mistakenly removed the wrong ovary, causing this poor woman to lose the ability to become a mother. Women at this facility would ask why the procedure was necessary, but they were given different answers every time. They were misled at best, lied to at worst. This forced sterilization is illegal and a gross violation of the rights of an extremely vulnerable population. Those responsible for these atrocities should be fired and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.