Another death. More silence. Still no justice.

On August 5, 2025, Chaofeng Ge—a 32-year-old man from China—was found hanging in a shower stall at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, just five days after being transferred there by ICE. He became the 11th person to die in ICE custody since the start of the Trump administration—and the second at Moshannon alone.

Advocates and legal experts have warned us for years: Moshannon is not safe. It’s not humane. And it must be shut down.

Since reopening in 2021 as an ICE facility operated by private prison giant GEO Group, Moshannon has become the largest immigrant detention center in the Northeast—holding over 1,300 people on any given day. It’s also become a national symbol of abuse and neglect.

Detainees and attorneys have reported horrifying conditions:

• Solitary confinement used as punishment for minor infractions
• People denied access to clean drinking water or legal counsel
• Men shackled at the hands and feet just to eat
• Stabbings, suicides, and medical neglect—all behind closed doors

ICE claims these are isolated incidents. GEO Group says they’re following policy. But the numbers tell a different story.

According to ICE’s own data, Moshannon uses solitary confinement more than any other immigration facility in the U.S. In spring 2025 alone, 147 people were placed in solitary each month—nearly double the national average.

This is not justice. This is cruelty for profit.

We are calling on the Clearfield County Board of Commissioners, who hold the power to terminate the county’s contract with ICE and GEO Group, to immediately shut down the Moshannon Valley Processing Center.

Pennsylvania cannot be complicit in this suffering. No one should be detained in secretive, dangerous facilities where due process and dignity are denied.

Sign now if you agree: Shut down Moshannon. End private detention in Pennsylvania. Let dignity, not detention, define our Commonwealth.

Photo: Emily Reddy / WPSU