Moshannon Valley ICE center holds hundreds in solitary confinement
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A Pennsylvania immigrant detention center that's come under scrutiny in recent months has held a high number of people in solitary confinement in 2025, according to new data obtained by Axios.
The big picture: Immigrant detention centers nationwide are reporting placing more people in solitary confinement this year, sometimes for weeks at a time, per a report from Harvard University researchers and Physicians for Human Rights.
- The researchers found that U.S. solitary confinement placements increasingly drag on for 15 days or longer, which the United Nations considers to be psychological torture.
- They focused on immigrant detention centers, which experts say are primarily used to hold immigrants and ensure they make their court hearings and check-ins — not to punish them for immigration violations.
By the numbers: Nearly 14,000 people were placed in solitary confinement in immigrant detention centers nationwide between April 2024 and August 2025, per the data.
- More than 1,900 people were isolated at Philipsburg's Moshannon Valley Processing Center between April 2024 and this past May — the highest number among the detention centers evaluated in the report.
- The central Pennsylvania facility, located about 90 minutes from Philly, is the largest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in the Northeast.
Context: Moshannon Valley has come under scrutiny in recent months following advocacy groups' allegations of civil rights abuses and the death of a Chinese national who'd been in ICE custody at the facility while awaiting an immigration hearing.
- Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) had attempted to conduct an oversight visit shortly after ICE officials reported finding the detainee hanging in August, but her office says she was turned away at the gates.
What they're saying: "Solitary confinement is torture," Patty Torres, co-executive director of Make the Road Pennsylvania, tells Axios.
- The immigrant advocacy group is among several others calling for the facility's closure.
The other side: The Department of Homeland Security and ICE didn't return Axios' requests for comment.
Zoom out: The report, which relies on ICE's data collections, didn't show the duration of solitary confinement placements for all detainees, just for those labeled as "vulnerable," like those with mental health issues.
- Between April 2024 and May, "vulnerable" detainees — who made up one-fifth of the nationwide detainee population — were placed in solitary confinement for an average of 38 days in the first three months of 2025.
- In 2021, the average duration was 14 days, per the report.
- ICE's own directives suggest using solitary confinement on people with mental health conditions only as a last resort.
- This often happened in state and county jails contracting with ICE to hold detainees.
Caveat: Researchers also warn that ICE data is typically incomplete, suggesting there could be an undercount of solitary confinement placements.
Between the lines: Some jails and prisons say they have shifted away from solitary confinement and instead practice "administrative segregation," which involves separating detainees believed to pose a threat to safety, property or facility operations.
Yes, but: Prisoner advocates say "administrative segregation" is just a euphemism for solitary confinement, and that the differences are minimal.
What's next: The report urged state and local officials to use their own power to end or reduce the use of solitary confinement in local facilities with ICE contracts.