Irwin County Detention Center Whistleblower Dawn Wooten Files New Complaint Alleging Retaliation
This article features Government Accountability Project whistleblower client, Dawn Wooten, and was originally published here.
Dawn Wooten, a nurse who blew the whistle and alleged widespread medical neglect at an immigration detention center in 2020, filed a new complaint alleging that she was retaliated against for speaking to “the press, Congress, and nonprofit advocacy groups” about what she witnessed.
Wooten’s 2020 Allegations
On September 14, 2020, a group of organizations filed a complaint on behalf of Wooten that alleged there was widespread medical neglect taking place at Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Ocilla, Georgia. At the time of Wooten’s disclosure, ICDC housed detained immigrants and was managed by LaSalle Corrections, a private prison company.
Wooten alleged that COVID-19 was handled extremely poorly at the facility, which led to immigrant detainees fearing for their lives. She also alleged that ICDC allegedly retaliated “against employees who adhere to protocol and public health guidelines or speak out against violations.”
However, the most chilling allegation in Wooten’s complaint was that a high rate of hysterectomies were being performed on detained immigrants at ICDC. “The complaint reports that many detained immigrant women are sent to a particular gynecologist outside the facility,” prior WNN coverage reported. Wooten said that she and other...
ACROSS Nigeria, self-styled healers continue to promote herbal ‘cures’ for HIV, charging desperate patients hefty sums for unverified treatments. The ICIR digs into the HIV healing drugs scams pro...