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Center for Human Rights, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington

NWDC Conditions Research Update: Ongoing Concern for TPD Response to Crimes in Immigration Detention

Purple-tinted photo of a Tacoma Police car in front of the Tacoma Police station.

October 29, 2025

This report is part of a series regarding Human Rights Conditions at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, based on ongoing research efforts and released to highlight initial findings in the urgent context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Background, Methodology, and Human Rights Standards
• Sanitation of Food and Laundry
• Allegations of Medical Neglect
• Use of Solitary Confinement
• COVID-19 and Health Standards
• Reporting of Sexual Assault and Abuse
• Uses of Force and Chemical Agents
• Patterns of Neglect in TPD Response to Abuse and Assault
• NWDC’s Unenforced Contract
• Research Update: Three Years of Cleanliness Concerns, No Consequences
• Research Update: Charles Leo Daniel’s Death at NWDC in Context
• Research Update: Ongoing Concern for TPD Response to Crimes in Immigration Detention

← Previous section: Charles Leo Daniel’s Death at NWDC in Context

Ongoing Concern for TPD Response to Crimes in Immigration Detention

Since publishing its report “TPD Doesn’t Respond Here” on April 24, 2025, UWCHR has continued to monitor TPD responses to reports of violence at ICE’s Northwest Detention Center. With the facility reportedly full to capacity or near capacity, it’s a critical time to keep tabs on what is happening inside, and in particular to assess the degree to which our own local officials are following through on their commitments to address the serious problems documented in UWCHR’s report.

Towards that end, UWCHR’s Director has participated in multiple meetings[1] of the City of Tacoma’s Police Advisory Committee discussing its findings with Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, Acting Tacoma Police Chief Patti Jackson, and Interim City Manager Hyun Kim. In these meetings, officials have underscored their concerns in light of UWCHR’s research findings, and Acting Chief Jackson has repeatedly reiterated her commitment to addressing this pattern of neglect.

Most recently, on October 13, Jackson shared the language of a September 10 TPD directive confirming that TPD has jurisdiction over crimes occurring at the NWDC and mandating that officers respond “in person and complete a general report of any reported criminal activity.” The directive further instructs TPD officers to rely on the language line, rather than NWDC personnel, for interpretation when necessary.[2] In the meeting, Jackson indicated that TPD personnel would respond to reports of crimes in the facility as they would anywhere else in Tacoma.

Despite these assurances, UWCHR remains gravely concerned about TPD’s response to crimes occurring at the facility. Our April report covered TPD’s response to alleged crimes at the NWDC over the course of the decade from January 1, 2015-January 1, 2025. Unfortunately, recently obtained records show that TPD’s pattern of responding poorly, if at all, to calls for help from those detained at the facility has continued well into 2025. For example:

  • People reporting sexual assaults within the facility continue to find their reports unanswered by ICE or TPD, leading to severe disturbances in their wellbeing. One man asked the help of GEO employees to call 911 in January 2025 to report a sexual assault in December; TPD responded by phone, and spoke directly to the alleged victim, but even the police report notes that his English was very limited. Apparently no attempt was made to provide translation or to further investigate the alleged crime. In April, the same man went on a hunger strike and later attempted suicide; while his motivations in doing so are unknown, later that month he called a sexual assault hotline, and told the operator he had repeatedly attempted suicide because felt unsafe and his repeated requests for help after the assault.
  • Since detained people are unable to call 911 from within the facility without the assistance of GEO personnel, many rely on their family, lawyers, or even the Washington Department of Health to call TPD on their behalf. On July 8, a Department of Health worker called TPD to report a sexual assault at the NWDC; a TPD dispatcher then called the facility and were told by a staffer that they would handle the incident internally. TPD did not investigate further; no police report was created.
  • On June 23, 2025, a woman called to report that her husband had been beaten by ICE during his arrest, as well as by GEO during his subsequent detention in the NWDC. While UWCHR’s request for the police report has yet to receive a response, the victim’s wife told UWCHR by phone that the police had done nothing to follow up on the complaint she filed.
  • In multiple cases, rather than ensuring privacy of communications by using a language line to translate for non-English speakers, GEO guards were asked to translate for detained people seeking to report crimes of a sexual nature. In one call during May 2025, the GEO officer translating for a Spanish-speaking detainee, who was reporting an alleged abuse by ICE personnel, told the 911 responder, “It seems like she’s hesitant to answer… do you have a Spanish interpreter, or do you want me to translate?” and then pressed on, asking the woman to tell him the details of the abuse she was reporting his co-worker had engaged in.
  • On August 19, a detained man called TPD to report that he had been stabbed inside the facility on August 12. His lawyer had called TPD to report the crime on August 15, but when TPD called the facility about it, GEO staff said they had already documented the incident but that the victim did not want to report the crime. On August 19, when the victim himself called to report the crime, the dispatcher said she’d make sure an officer called him back. But when an officer did follow up by calling the NWDC a few hours later, facility officials again said that the victim did not want to file a police report – despite having specifically requested to do so earlier that day. TPD took GEO’s word over the victim’s, and no police report was ever created in response to this alleged stabbing.

Chief Jackson’s TPD directive explicitly addresses the failure to respond in person and to use independent translating services, but as a result of unprecedented delays in responding to UWCHR records requests, our researchers are unable to discern whether TPD’s responses have improved in practice. None of UWCHR’s public records requests for incidents after the September 10 issuance of the directive have yet received a response. Indeed, UWCHR’s requests for records have languished as long as four months, and South Sound 911 has informed us that the delay lies with TPD, rather than their agency. It is particularly worrisome that many of these requests have now been delayed so long that the underlying records are outside the 90-day period for which preservation of audio records is required by state law[3], suggesting that the records may be destroyed before they can be examined by researchers.

As of October 28, for example, the below records requests have been outstanding for months:

  • W477544-062425, a reported assault: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 6/24/2025
  • W479347-070825, a reported assault: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 7/08/2025
  • W479350-070825, a reported assault: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 7/08/2025
  • W479348-070825, a reported sex crime: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 7/08/2025
  • W479351-070825, a reported sex crime: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 7/08/2025
  • W482292-073125, a reported sex crime: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 7/31/2025
  • W482660-080225, a reported sex crime: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 8/02/2025
  • W482294-073125, a reported sex crime: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 7/31/2025
  • W482661-080225, a reported sex crime: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 8/02/2025
  • W482295-073125, a reported assault: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 7/31/2025
  • W482661-080225, a reported sex crime: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 8/02/2025
  • W482295-073125, a reported assault: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 7/31/2025
  • W482662-080225, a reported assault: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 8/02/2025
  • W482297-073125, a reported assault: “awaiting [TPD] response” since 7/31/2025
  • W482663-080225, a reported assault: awaiting [TPD] response” since 8/02/2025

Even if these records are not destroyed, administrative delays matter. For example, on October 22, 2025, UWCHR researchers finally received the audio recording of a 911 call from June 2024. That call involved the report by a detained man that he had been subjected to repeated group rapes within the NWDC. TPD records show that officers responded to the scene, received evidence the victim had preserved by spitting the rapist’s semen into a bag after one of the assaults, but declined to process that evidence until five months later – at which point DNA evidence corroborated the victim’s account. When informed of this, NWDC personnel – who had concluded the case was “unsubstantiated,” reported that both victim and offender were no longer at the facility, and TPD closed the case.

UWCHR’s Director has repeatedly asked officials from the City Manager’s Office, as well as TPD, to ensure the timely release of records and prevent the destruction of records that have not yet been released as a result of TPD delays[4]. Most recently, she asked TPD and Tacoma leadership on October 13 to commit to preserving records that had not yet been released, as well as to addressing monthslong delays in request processing; they promised to follow up. As of October 25, no follow up has occurred.

For far too long, TPD has systematically ignored crimes reported by detained people at the Northwest Detention Center, leaving this already vulnerable population beyond the protection of the law. This decade-long pattern of neglect was first documented in UWCHR’s April 2025 report; six months later, no evidence has yet emerged that TPD has changed its behavior.

Notes

[1] May 12, Sept 8, Oct 13

[2] The text of this directive does not appear to have been published in any publicly-accessible locations, but it was disclosed via screen-share on the October 13 meeting, a recording of which is available here: https://cms.tacoma.gov/citizenpoliceadvisorycommittee/2025/10.13.2025/video1225111133.mp4

[3] South Sound 911, “How long do you keep recordings of 911 calls?,” ​​https://public-southsound911.mycusthelp.com/WEBAPP/_rs/(S(2km0lpdzkozkvmto13ocs3wk))/AnswerDetail.aspx?sSessionID=17256108215EN[KBYDIWVSMHJPGBNDQ[B[FSZUKI&inc=126&caller=%7e%2fFindAnswers.aspx%3ffilter%3d%26pi%3d2%26sSessionid%3d17256108215EN%5bKBYDIWVSMHJPGBNDQ%5bB%5bFSZUKI

[4] Angelina Godoy made such requests via email on June 5, September 26, and October 18, and in a zoom meeting on October 13.