The Independent
· collected 2026-09-22 · by Jack Brook and Dorany Pineda
A 36-year-old Costa Rican man whose family says he complained of missing insulin shots and meals to manage his diabetes is the third detainee to die in less than six months at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana.
asserted
he → say → Louisiana
Carlos Josue Marchena Marchena was found unresponsive Sept. 18 at Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, ICE said in a statement.
asserted
ICE → find → statement
It said staff began lifesaving measures before he was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
asserted
he → say → hospital
The man's sister, his girlfriend and a detainee held in the cell beside Marchena's told The Associated Press that he complained of missed meals and shots and not drinking enough water to control his type 1 diabetes as he was moved between facilities in multiple states.
asserted
he → hold → states
Marchena's condition worsened after he arrived at Winn, and he died less than a week later, his family said.
asserted
family → worsen → Winn
The official cause of death is pending further medical examination.
asserted
cause → pende → examination
The correctional center had recently been found to have fallen short of federal standards, including for medical care, by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
asserted
center → find → General
Two other ICE detainees have died at the complex since April.
asserted
detainees → die → April
Nearly 60 ICE detainees have died since January 2025
Marchena is at least the 58th ICE detainee to die since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, according to tracking by AP.
uncertain
Trump → die → AP
Immigrant advocates say the deaths are a sign that authorities are failing to properly oversee the detention of tens of thousands of immigrants swept up in the administration’s aggressive deportation strategy.
asserted
authorities → say → strategy
ICE said Marchena's medical care was appropriate.
asserted
care → say → ?
“Marchena received proper medical care and was seen by medical professionals,” an agency statement said.
asserted
statement → receive → professionals
Sufficient food, water and insulin at regular intervals is crucial with type 1 diabetes for managing blood sugar levels to avoid a life-threatening health condition, said Dr. Rajesh Garg, who heads the diabetes unit at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
asserted
who → manage → Center
“If they are under any stress, then they need even more care and then they need to test their blood sugar at regular times,” Garg said.
asserted
Garg → need → times
“If there isn’t proper food and water, that is going to stress his system.”
asserted
that → be → system
Scott Sutterfield, a spokesperson for LaSalle Corrections, the contractor managing the facility with the Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office, said the death is under review and declined to answer questions.
asserted
death → manage → questions
He said the company is committed to “the highest standards of care.”
asserted
company → say → care
Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Winn Parish Coroner’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
asserted
Office → respond → comment
Medical examiners and coroners have ruled diabetes was a contributing factor in at least six of the ICE detainees' deaths during Trump’s second presidency.
asserted
diabetes → rule → presidency
Detainees with diabetes have frequently complained in court filings of inconsistent access to insulin and other medications.
asserted
Detainees → complain → insulin
The deaths come amid mounting scrutiny of ICE detention facilities and whether they are medically neglecting detainees and forcing them to live in inhumane conditions, charges that ICE denies.
asserted
ICE → come → that
Detainee says man was vomiting and looking pale
Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General issued a report in June that said an unannounced inspection at Winn found violations of standards governing medical care, food service, use of force and other subjects.
asserted
inspection → say → force
Among violations, it reported frozen food not being stored properly.
asserted
food → report → violations
Medical staff at Winn failed to keep updated treatment documents and laboratory testing records, which could “negatively impact detainee health care and safety,” the report warned.
uncertain
report → fail → care
It said ICE agreed with nine recommendations to improve conditions at Winn, and had implemented several of them.
asserted
ICE → say → them
Marchena's sister, Franciny Marchena, said her brother told her no one was checking his blood sugar levels to ensure they were stable.
asserted
they → say → levels
“A person who is healthy and taking their diabetes medication has no reason to collapse the way my brother did,” she told AP, speaking in Spanish from Costa Rica.
asserted
she → take → Rica
His sister said his health began to worsen about two weeks ago when he was in an immigration detention center in Michigan and was put in a security cell after an argument with another detainee.
asserted
he → say → detainee
Detainee says man was vomiting and looking pale
asserted
man → say → ?
After being transferred to Winn, Marchena told his sister and girlfriend that he had chest pain and was not getting enough to drink or eat, including because the food was sometimes spoiled.
asserted
food → transfer → enough
It was not known if he had an underlying heart condition.
asserted
he → know → condition
Marchena also voiced these concerns to Luis Herrera Andy, a Honduran man detained at Winn in the adjacent cell, who noted Marchena only received irregular insulin shots.
asserted
Marchena → voice → shots
A doctor gave Marchena pills for his chest pain but he returned angry, Herrera said, recalling his words: “This place is crap.
asserted
place → give → words
They don’t help you with anything here.
asserted
They → help → anything
You could even die here."
uncertain
You → die → ?
The day before Marchena was found dead, he had stomach pain, headaches, chills, and was vomiting, Herrera said.
asserted
Herrera → find → chills
Hours before his death, Marchena's girlfriend Ana Leon Castro said, he called around midnight to say the pills weren't helping.
asserted
pills → say → midnight
“All they gave him was a pill — that was it for the treatment,” Leon Castro said.
asserted
Castro → give → treatment
Cardiac arrest — when the heart suddenly stops pumping — can occur from too little or too much insulin in a diabetic person, said Garg at Harbor-UCLA.
asserted
Garg → stop → UCLA
Vomiting, headaches, nausea and stomach pain are all symptoms that can indicate a life-threatening insulin deficiency, though there could be other causes such as an infection.
uncertain
that → indicate → infection
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
