After being in ICE custody for just 24 hours at the controversial Delaney Hall ICE Detention Center in Newark, “remarkably healthy” Haitian asylum seeker Jean Wilson Brutus died. But his family is crying foul and has retained legal counsel who are working to conduct an investigation into his detainment and what potentially led to his death.
Jean, 41, was arrested by federal agents on Dec.11, 2025. Upon completion of processing, he was sent to Delaney Hall. According to a statement from ICE, he had no signs of distress during intake nor a medical history of cardiovascular issues. They also claim that all detainees are held in safe environments.
But that’s not what Brutus’ family believes. They suspect that he was a victim of Delaney’s notorious alleged abuses of detainees.
“At this early stage, our primary focus is preserving and gathering evidence to piece together what happened to Mr. Brutus,” said Brutus’ family attorney Oliver T. Barry. “While still early in our investigation, there are serious concerns about the conduct of ICE and the private prisons with which they collaborate. The family wants to know what happened to their loved one. And that is a desire that I believe everyone regardless of race, creed, religion, or ideological disposition must acknowledge.”
The attorneys also said that Jean’s family was shocked at a statement put out by ICE. In a press statement ICE referred to Jean as a “criminal illegal alien.”
The detention center which was holding Jean has a history of mistreating people. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker called them out in a Facebook post last year.
“The conditions at the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark are untenable,” Booker explained. “With serious security lapses, numerous reports of mistreatment by staff of detainees, complaints of persistent food shortages, and a troubling lack of transparency from facility administrators, it’s clear that GEO Group has shown it cannot — or will not — operate Delaney Hall humanely or safely.
“I have long opposed privately owned and operated immigration detention facilities because they are mired by rampant abuse and neglect of those in their care,” he continued.
Delaney Hall was also the site of a prison strike last year in June. According to an ACLU New Jersey press release, the strike was a response to insufficient meals, inedible food, and lack of drinking water. Also, multiple detained immigrants escaped through an external wall, later revealed to be constructed of plastic and chicken wire.
“Every human life is sacred. Jean Wilson Brutus came to this country seeking a future as a New American, and instead was caged by ICE and spent his last days in Delaney Hall, a private prison profiting off suffering, while people report conditions so monstrous we warned they would cost lives. Even in death, they withheld dignity, failing to report it immediately,” said Charlene Walker, executive director of Faith in New Jersey, in the statement.