Maria Celeste Ochoa de Yoc
Maria Celeste Ochoa de Yoc died in 2024 while held at the Kay County Detention Center in Newkirk, Oklahoma, an immigration detention facility. Her death was attributed to liver failure. According to a Physicians for Human Rights report, she told staff she felt she was dying, but staff who did not speak Spanish understood this as suicidal ideation and placed her in solitary confinement under suicide watch. The report says her liver failure was not treated. Mother Jones, reporting on the same findings, says investigators never disclosed the mistaken interpretation of her statement.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (neglect alleged). The Deadly Failures report says she died of liver failure after staff who did not speak Spanish misread her statement that she felt she was dying as suicidal, placed her in solitary confinement, and did not treat her liver failure.
Reported by: Deadly Failures report (reporters).