June 23, 2004 – A senior federal official told USA Today on condition of anonymity that 16 prisoners have died in Native American detention centers since 2001. For several weeks the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs has been collecting information to review allegations of neglect and abuse within the 74-prison system.
According to the unnamed official, while the causes of the deaths are not all known, some have been attributed to alcohol or other substances consumed prior to the arrests of the prisoners. The official also blamed the detention centers' poor management and lack of automated records for the lack of information on the cause of prisoner deaths. In 2002, according to the Great Falls Tribune, the facilities held 2,080 inmates.
The federal investigation initially began when Ed Naranjo, a former special agent in charge of law enforcement for the BIA, videotaped poor conditions at several facilities. At different detention centers, Naranjo documented raw sewage flowing into the men's cellblock when a toilet was flushed in the women's section; juveniles sharing space with adult inmates; inmates showering by pouring buckets of water over their heads; and rifles and other weapons piled near prisoners’ cells. The videotape was provided to USA Today.
On June 1, USA Today reported that, in the midst of the investigation, Robert Ecoffey, the director of enforcement operations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs was reassigned.
