The Strange Death of José de Jesús, Part 1

Latino USA

Futuro Media and PRX

Society & Culture

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A man dies in a U.S. immigration detention center, under unusual circumstances. He is found unresponsive in his cell, with a sock stuffed down his throat. His death is ruled a suicide, but little information is put out about what happened, and the family wants answers. In this first part of a special two-part series, Latino USA investigates why José de Jesús died in the custody of the U.S. government, and what his death tells us about conditions—especially mental health services—inside the immigration detention system.

This story originally aired in July of 2016.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Futuro.
0:05.0	This is Marlin Bishop, co-ceeo at Futura Media, and back in the day day one of the producers of the immigration
0:14.2	story we have for you next. Last week on Latino USA we brought you an important
0:19.4	story about an unprecedented crisis in Sassabay, a remote town on the Arizona border with Mexico,
0:26.0	where two wings of the Cinelloa cartel battle over a crossing point to smuggle migrants into the U.S.
0:35.6	The violence has turned the small community into a ghost town.
0:46.4	This and the fact that through June, 10 people have died in ICE detention in fiscal year 2024. That's double the number of deaths reported in all of fiscal year 2023 and triple the amount reported in all of fiscal year
0:51.3	2022.
0:53.0	So within that context, we felt it was important to bring to you again the strange death of Jose de Jesus.
0:59.0	It is a two-part special that originally aired in 2016 about the conditions, especially involving
1:06.0	mental health inside the immigration detention system.
1:09.7	The story would go on to earn Latino USA, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. Here is part one of
1:16.2	the strange death of Jose de Jesus.
1:19.8	Before we start, dear listener, a quick warning.
1:23.0	This episode describes suicide in graphic language.
1:27.0	On May 13, 2015, Jose de Jesus de Nisagoon had a birthday party.
1:36.0	It was small, just his parents, and some family and friends.
1:40.0	They celebrated on the back patio of their modest home on an isolated stretch of coast in central Mexico.
1:46.0	Jose Jesus was turning 31 years old. They were celebrating a birthday, but they were also saying goodbye.
1:58.0	The day after the party, Jose would take a plane and a bus to the Mexican border and then attempt to cross the desert
2:04.6	into the United States.
2:06.7	His goal was to reunite with his three young children who lived in Las Vegas with their
	...

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