Man In ICE Custody Dies At PA Facility With Hands, Legs Tied Up: Lawsuit

PHILIPSBURG, PA — The brother of a man who died in ICE custody at a privately run holding facility in Pennsylvania is now suing the federal government to find out exactly what happened.

Chaofeng Ge, 32, was found hanging on Aug. 5 at around 5:20 a.m. at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Authorities said he was found with a cloth around his neck in a shower stall and that he had to be cut down. The lawsuit, however, adds that both his hands and his legs were tied behind his back when he was found.

Ge, a Chinese national, was isolated in custody for months because no one could speak Mandarin, the suit states.

"No one from the GEO Group, which runs MVPC, has reached out and offered the family condolences, much less an explanation for how this could have happened," the lawsuit says. "MVPC staff refused to even try to communicate with him, much less offer him the mental health care that he so urgently needed."

The suit was filed by Ge's brother in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York.

Ge's brother and attorneys filed a Freedom of Information Act request following Ge's death which the lawsuit states was not complied with by ICE.

ICE did publicly release a "detainee death report" on Ge, but it did not contain answers to questions put forth in the FOIA, including the last time Ge was seen alive, his last communication with another person, medical documents, communications between other offices about Ge, and any video from the day of his death.

The death report states that the detention officer who found Ge called for immediate help at 5:20 a.m.

Staff members arrived at 5:25 a.m., five minutes later, and used a tool to cut the bed sheet from Ge's neck, the report states.

They said they began CPR and using an AED to revive him, and then six minutes later, at 5:31 a.m. they called 911 and requested an ambulance.

The ambulance arrived at 5:44 a.m. and took over the lifesaving measures, and Ge was pronounced dead by the Clearfield County Coroner at 6:03 p.m.

In addition to not clarifying how he died, the lawsuit states that ICE intentionally and illegally ignored the FOIA.