A new joint report from Harvard University and Physicians for Human Rights says U.S. immigration detention facilities are "systematically torturing" detainees through the prolonged use of solitary confinement — often for weeks at a time — in what the United Nations defines as psychological torture.
Between April 2024 and August 2025, nearly 14,000 people were placed in solitary confinement in immigrant detention centers across the country, according to data cited in the report. Those labeled "vulnerable," including individuals with mental health conditions, spent an average of 38 days in isolation during the first quarter of 2025 — nearly triple the 14-day average recorded in 2021.
Researchers say the findings, based on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data, point to a worsening trend since late 2024, with the practice now used routinely and without clear oversight. "We are torturing people simply because they want a better life in the U.S.," said Sam Zarifi, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights, to Axios. "This violates both U.S. and international law."
ICE guidelines limit solitary confinement for people with mental health issues to exceptional circumstances and as a last resort, but the report found the policy is routinely violated. In many cases, isolation was used for minor infractions, such as refusing medical procedures or protesting detention conditions.
The report's authors concluded that solitary confinement in immigration detention "has no place in a civil system," arguing that ICE's growing use of the practice transforms administrative custody into a punitive system operating without due process. They also warned that "solitary confinement continues to be used with people who have mental health conditions and other vulnerabilities in a way that violates ICE's own directives and international human rights mandates."
The report calls on the Department of Homeland Security, Congress, and the president to immediately end solitary confinement in immigration detention and to release detainees with existing vulnerabilities. It also urges states and local governments to ban or restrict the practice in facilities that contract with ICE, conduct unannounced inspections, and ensure detainees have access to legal representation and interpreters.
"ICE cannot be presently trusted to account accurately, let alone implement humane policies in its existing facilities," the report said. "Although transparency, accountability, and oversight are essential first steps, ICE must focus its attention on abolishing the inhumane practice of solitary confinement and immediately releasing vulnerable populations from immigration detention."
The new report builds on earlier investigations showing that solitary placements in ICE custody rose 41% between December 2024 and August 2025, peaking at more than 1,100 individuals. Some detainees reported being held in windowless cells for weeks, denied medical care, or isolated after filing abuse complaints — despite DHS policy prohibiting segregation as retaliation.
"ICE detention facilities are systemically torturing people and are on track to be torturing more people," Zarifi told Axios. "And these are not criminals — they are asylum seekers and immigrants."
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