Rep. Jayapal, Randall tour Northwest ICE Processing Center

For months, FOX 13 has been reporting on the conditions inside the Northwest Ice Processing Center, a detention facility in Tacoma. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Emily Randall toured the facility and spoke with detainees. While cameras were not allowed in, FOX 13's Alejandra Guzman spoke with the lawmakers about what they saw as the company running the facility just secured a new 10-year contract. The five men detained while camping at the Mount Bakers Noqualmie National Forest described the conditions inside the Tacoma detention facility as inhumane. Today lawmakers described hearing similar concerns but they say getting straight answers from the people who run the facility is a big challenge. Tanto la comida como la atención sí está bastante mal. Hay mucho sufriendo. Recently released, Faustino and Alvaro tell me the food and medical care inside the Tacoma Detention Center were very poor. Alvaro says he even got an infection while he was detained for six weeks. Did you specifically find any problems with the food, the cleanliness, the medical attention that needs... We have consistently found that Jio across the country does not meet basic standards. During their announced visit to the detention center, Congresswoman Jayapal and Randall met with two detainees. One of them who claims they waited four days for their blood pressure medication. Lawmakers said they've even heard from attorneys being denied access to confidential conversations. But when meeting with GEO Group, the facility leadership, Jayapal says they denied those claims. A repeat offense, according to Jayapal. You know, we hear one thing from detainees and then we hear something completely different from the people who manage the facilities. It's difficult to ever get to the truth of it. The private company that runs a facility was just awarded a 10-year contract worth about $140 million a year. In a statement, GEO's founder said, quote, We are proud of our 40-year public-private partnership with ICE, and we stand ready to continue to assist the federal government in meeting its immigration enforcement priorities, end quote. How are you planning to hold the GO group accountable, seeing the conditions, hearing what the detainees are going through? I have been in touch directly with ICE headquarters, and so we're waiting for information from them about this contract. Washingtonians. Don't want for profit prisons in our state and we need to continue fighting for the will of the people of Washington to ensure that no one is profiting over locking up human beings. The congresswomen say that they will continue oversight and to push for answers from federal officials. Meanwhile, there are still a lot of questions regarding the new contract and whether any of the concerns raised by detainees, if that will lead to any change inside the facility. In Tacoma, Alejandra Guzman, Fox 13 News. Despite the visit being official oversight, Fox 13 reached out to Teresa Fox and Nirav Sheth, who are running against the current congresswoman. We're still waiting to hear back.