27-year-old Jean Jimenez-Joseph, who came from Panama, was found dead in his cell at the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. He was held in solitary confinement for 19 days. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported that the young man died on Tuesday from “self-inflicted strangulation.” However, a recent report by the immigrant advocacy group Project South and the Penn State Law Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic says that people in Stewart Detention Center hardly receive any type of mental health care.

“There is no mental health service,” a male detained immigrant from Somalia told report researchers. “There is no therapy. They only put people in segregation when someone is ‘mentally ill.’”

So people are locked down in segregation not only for protesting detention conditions or as a means of punishing hunger strikes, but also for JUST BEING MENTALLY ILL.

Of course, the media and the government keep silent. This death wasn’t a suicide. This was a result of inhuman conditions and callous indifference to all detainees, to all people.

Sarah Perez-Cruz, age 14 East Los Angeles In Partnership with Esteban Torres High School (HAAT)

“Orlando’s Tears”

The Void Darkness fills around A pool of darkness making it so you are afraid to fall Void is a myth you always heard of Go close and it’ll pull you in You would be left in a pool of darkness with no destination only the sensation of being pulled in The void is scary, nobody is ever seen again Although you love the sensation of being pulled in not knowing whether you were taking a left or a right or have hit a dead end The void is where you are finally alone to think for yourself Will you even be missed? As they hold the funeral in your honor the color of the void is there Everything seems so dark and people are damning the void for taking their sunshine away Is it sad that to say their sunshine likes the void? It is her escape from reality where she is normal and no one is shoving their beliefs down her throat Maybe the void pulled her in because darkness is all she’s ever known Now she has peace

I have lived in East Los Angeles my entire life. To define who I am I will tell you a few things: I am a pansexual photographer and a poet. I write cringey fanfiction on the internet and I am obsessed with YouTube and bands. In the future, I want to become a speech pathologist and get a minor in graphic design. My biggest inspiration is my sister. She has been with me through thick and thin. I love that with photography, everyone has their own style and the meanings behind their photos. In my photography, I want to spread awareness about the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community and what we go through. When people see my photography, I want them to see the emotion and hard work that was put into creating this message. I want to spread this message because I am a part of the LGBTQ+ community and I want other people to be more aware of everything that surrounds them and open minded about the community. My style in photography seeks to translate what I imagine in the photos. With photography, I can express my emotions and help people say what’s on their minds through a single image.