The Story Behind the Story: Annabelle Sedano Discusses her Series on Immigrant Detention

Reporter Annabelle Sedano delved into how well – or poorly – the mental and physical health of immigrant needs of detainees is being delivered. She undertook this project as 2013 California Health Journalism fellow.

The Univision reporter knew it was going to be a complicated topic, but “didn’t expect it to be this complicated.”

Detainees complained that their medical needs were not being met. One glaring problem Sedano found was that many people who suffer from physical or mental problems are placed in isolations. This, she says, “creates another set of problems.”

Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and representatives from GEO Group, a for-profit prison operator, shared many recent improvements.

“But,” Sedano says in this Spanish-language interview below “Obviously much more needs to be done.”