Georgia ICE Detainees Utilize Video Calls to Reveal Facility Conditions

Four detainees at an ICE facility in rural Georgia utilized the center’s video conferencing system to shed light on the dire conditions within and the administration’s aggressive approach to immigration courts. In a five-minute clip, they describe a legal system that seems deliberately designed to keep them in federal custody for extended periods—often in privately operated facilities that profit from their detention.

The video came at a cost for the men, both literally and figuratively. The Folkston ICE Processing Center offers a work program where detainees earn meager wages for tasks like cooking, laundry, or cleaning. These earnings allow them to purchase extra food from the commissary and maintain contact with the outside world. “The workers here are paid $1 a day, which is just enough for a 10-minute phone call,” shared Idris Makhmudov, one of the men featured in the video, who has been held in Folkston for 27 months and counting.

Makhmudov and the other three men, hailing from various countries, appear in drab uniforms issued by the facility. Their images are obscured by the low-quality cameras on the detention center’s tablets. It’s unclear how they managed to create the video, but it’s likely they contacted someone outside who recorded their message. Samantha Hamilton, an immigration attorney based in Atlanta, received a link to the video through a secure chat. “We’ve learned that everyone in the video released this weekend has been placed in segregation,” Hamilton noted, a member of the Shut Down Folkston campaign. “They’re facing retaliation, which they anticipated.” Following the video, 45 detainees penned an open letter detailing the conditions at Folkston, and around 73 detainees have since initiated a hunger strike.

ICE detention is not meant to serve as punishment; its stated goal is to ensure individuals in deportation proceedings attend their hearings. However, ICE facilities closely resemble prisons—a point emphasized by the men in the video. Folkston was previously a prison before its conversion into an immigrant detention center, complete with many of the same features, including costly communication tools that detainees must use to connect with the outside world.

“These facilities leave people with very few options to communicate with their loved ones,” Hamilton explained, noting that each “pod” of 60 to 70 detainees has access to only three or four tablets, their sole link to the outside.

These communications come at a steep price. To send messages, share photos, or make phone or video calls, detainees at Folkston must use GettingOut, a proprietary software from the prison communications company Telmate. Earlier this year, Telmate was ordered to pay $4.23 million to settle a lawsuit related to a 2020 data breach that compromised users’ information, including names and payment details.

Telmate is owned by ViaPath Technologies, which is in turn owned by a private equity firm based in New York City. In 2021, ViaPath charged users between 18 cents and $1.10 per minute for communications, according to data from the Prison Policy Initiative. These costs can accumulate quickly, prompting the Federal Communications Commission to cap the rates companies can charge inmates and detainees to between 11 and 25 cents per minute, depending on the facility size. However, in 2025, after a change in administration, the FCC voted to increase the rate cap by up to 83 percent.

Detainees often find it challenging to reclaim any funds they deposited into these systems after their release—or, more frequently, after deportation. GettingOut’s terms state that users lose access to their accounts after 180 days of inactivity, resulting in the forfeiture of any remaining balance. The only way to recover funds is by navigating a difficult customer service line. Under the current administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Telmate to pay $3 million for improperly freezing and draining funds from incarcerated individuals’ accounts.

Communications are just one avenue through which private companies profit from immigrant detention. Folkston is operated by GEO Group, a publicly traded company whose stock surged after the last election, increasing by over 75 percent post-election day. GEO has made significant contributions to political campaigns, including $1.4 million to a super PAC, likely in gratitude for the $165 million it received in government contracts earlier this year. The company earns over $1.5 million monthly to manage Folkston, which has a capacity of 780 and a guaranteed minimum occupancy of 544.

The combination of mass deportation efforts and a backlog in the immigration court system has allowed ICE to meet its contractual minimum at Folkston. The men in the video claim they and others have been detained for several years, explaining that the only ways to secure release are through parole, bond, or asylum—or to be deported. The latter has become increasingly likely, as the immigration legal system has been transformed into what one detainee refers to as “deportation courts.” Of the 143,729 detained cases recorded in Georgia immigration courts over the past year, 81 percent involved individuals without legal representation, significantly reducing their chances of obtaining relief, according to federal data analyzed by researchers.

The men in the video assert that the immigration system has been restructured to favor certain outcomes. Since the change in administration, the Department of Justice has dismissed over 100 judges whose rulings did not align with the current administration’s deportation agenda, replacing them with at least 153 new judges who are less likely to grant bond or parole, thereby keeping detainees in what advocates describe as substandard conditions.

Hamilton, the immigration attorney, reported receiving consistent accounts of nearly inedible food and contaminated water at the facility, including instances of detainees discovering worms in their water supply. Due to the highly processed nature of the food, many clients have entered the facility in good health only to leave with new medical issues, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

“Most of us are asylum seekers, those who came to the United States seeking protection from political persecution and violence in our home countries,” Makhmudov states in the video. “Many fled out of fear of becoming political prisoners in those countries—and one might say we became political prisoners in the United States simply because we are immigrants.”