Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The hunger strike also drew participants from other countries including China, Iran and Afghanistan.
This week, a group of men locked inside the Folkston D. Ray James ICE Processing Center timed a coordinated act of protest to the moment they expected scrutiny from the outside.
About 50 detainees began refusing food on Tuesday, October 6, hours before a scheduled facility inspection, according to Russian-emigre outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe.
The strike was organized by Russian-speaking detainees but drew in participants from Latin America, Iran, Afghanistan and China.
The men say they wanted inspectors to see what the facility normally hides. In their account, staff responded by warning that anyone who kept refusing food could face “possible separation and isolation.”
A complaint from behind the walls
The protest grew out of a complaint dated September 14 and signed by 14 Russian citizens held at the center. Alexey Kovalko and Alexander Borovkov, named as the primary authors, laid out their account in a document that was obtained by The Insider.
“The purpose of this prison is to deport as many people as possible and create conditions in which it is impossible to defend one’s case in immigration court,” the authors wrote.
The signatories, held for periods ranging from five to 30 months, describe mold on mattresses and ceilings, spoiled food, foul-smelling drinking water and televisions kept on in common areas until 02:00 with earplugs banned.
Medical care, they say, is reserved for emergencies: fevers, hypertension and acute pain can wait a week or more.
One signatory reports going nearly two years without dental care despite repeated requests.
The Russian America for Democracy in Russia advocacy group estimates there are roughly 700 to 800 Russians in US immigration custody as of spring 2026, as reported by Meduza.
From county prison to the country’s biggest ICE center
The complex sits in Folkston, a town of a few thousand near the Okefenokee Swamp. Immigration and Customs Enforcement awarded private operator GEO Group a $47 million contract in June 2025 to consolidate the existing Folkston ICE Processing Center with the neighboring D. Ray James Correctional Facility, creating a nearly 3,000-bed site.
The Current reported federal inspectors had already flagged “torn mattresses, water leaks and standing water, mold growth” and inadequate medical care at the facility before the contract was signed.
The expansion followed the April 2024 death of Jaspal Singh, a 57-year-old Indian national whose care an ICE review found had “deviated beyond safe limits.”
ICE and GEO Group have not responded to requests for comment on the strike.
