Félix Repilado Martínez
Félix Repilado Martínez was a 67-year-old Cuban-born man who loved folkloric dance from his youth in Cuba, was close to his adult daughter and his partner Elaine, and cared for his young son a few days a week. He was held at North Lake Correctional Institution, a privately operated immigration detention facility in Baldwin, Michigan, after being moved there from California in spring 2020. He died there on May 18, 2020, of bilateral pulmonary thromboemboli associated with COVID-19, according to the Mid Michigan Medical Examiner Group. His cellmate and other witnesses say staff responded very slowly as he struggled to breathe, and the family had been preparing a letter seeking his humanitarian release because of his heart condition. GEO Group staff initially gave misleading accounts of the death, according to the report.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). The medical examiner attributed the death to COVID-19-associated pulmonary thromboemboli, but his cellmate says staff responded very slowly as he struggled to breathe, and GEO Group staff initially gave misleading accounts of the death.
Reported by: Mid Michigan Medical Examiner Group (medical examiner or coroner); Federal Bureau of Prisons website (the agency that held him); GEO Group staff (the agency that held him); his cellmate.