A petition circulating online is urging U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson to force scrutiny of the Adams County Correctional Center, the CoreCivic-run immigration detention facility outside Natchez.
This comes on the heels of reporting from The Mississippi Independent and other outlets about conditions at the facility, including about the detention center having recently received its worst compliance report on record and corrective action that came in response to this outlet’s investigation highlighting allegations that released immigrants were threatened and charged exorbitant transportation fees.
The petition, posted to the website Action Network on Sept. 3, asks Thompson, a Democrat, to “investigate and act on the conditions” at the center. The petition asks Thompson, the ranking member on the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, which oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for: an immediate unannounced inspection by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General with public findings; full transparency from ICE and CoreCivic on population levels, staffing ratios, medical protocols and recent detainee deaths; congressional oversight hearings on conditions in for-profit ICE detention; and enforceable, independently monitored standards of care.
“As this facility is in your district, your office has the standing to demand accountability from ICE and CoreCivic on behalf of the people held at this facility and the broader Adams County community,” the letter reads.
The petition’s central premise—that conditions at the Adams County facility warrant federal examination—is supported by federal documentation. An ICE Office of Detention Oversight inspection conducted May 7–9, 2026, and released in June documented 26 violations at the facility, The Mississippi Independent reported.
Inspectors found that staff failed to follow required national detention standards procedures in four of the 15 use-of-force incidents they reviewed, leaving unresolved how much force was used, whether detainees had already been subdued and whether the video record was complete. They also found supervisors had not verified that detainees were placed in the correct housing units, that ICE responses to detainees were badly delayed, and that CoreCivic staff had not inventoried some detainees’ baggage and belongings.
The facility passed anyway. A year earlier it had drawn four deficiencies and a “superior” rating.
The clearest recent illustration of the gap between those standards and daily practice at Adams County involves what detainees face the moment they are released.
An investigation by The Mississippi Independent, reported in collaboration with the Spanish-language outlet El Molino Informativo, found that a senior CoreCivic detention officer had since at least 2020 helped steer released immigrants toward a taxi service operated by her husband. Former passengers and longtime immigration advocates said the driver, Otis Anderson, used threats and charged fares topping $300 per person, and that his service was repeatedly selected over cheaper options—including free rides offered by regional nonprofits.
One juvenile passenger said Anderson charged $900 in April to drive three released detainees roughly 75 miles to the airport in Baton Rouge, after the passenger had asked only to be taken to the bus station in Natchez, about 12 miles away. Uber estimated the Baton Rouge trip at about $110 at the time. The passenger said Anderson threatened to have him returned to detention if he refused to pay.
After the investigation, CoreCivic said that although it could not substantiate the allegations, the company had taken additional steps to prevent any conflict of interest, and that it had reviewed policy with the officer and confirmed no staff member holds an ownership stake in the company.
The petition describes recent protests inside the facility over inadequate meals, hot water and hot food cut off during maintenance to the gas system, and unexplained nighttime power interruptions. It says detainees have reported severe overcrowding, including three people housed in two-person cells and people sleeping on the floor, and that nearly 70 detainees submitted a petition to facility staff weeks before the most recent protest without adequate response.
The petition also cites the death of Delvin Francisco Rodriguez, a 39-year-old Nicaraguan man who died Dec. 14, 2025, at Merit Health Natchez. According to ICE, staff responded to a medical emergency on Dec. 4, 2025, and found Rodriguez unresponsive and without a pulse; lifesaving measures were performed before he was transferred to the hospital, where he was later removed from a ventilator. He was one of 33 people who died in ICE custody in 2025, the agency’s deadliest year on record.
The petition had collected 98 signatures as of time of publication, with a goal of obtaining 100 signatories.
Image: U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (credit: J. David Cox via Wikimedia)
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