A recently deported Mexican immigrant claimed that it is "impossible" for the Cuban Denny Adán González, 33 years old, to have committed suicide in the isolation cell where he was held before being found dead on April 29 at the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia.
Guillermo Aguilar shared a cell with González at that immigration facility located in Lumpkin and stated that he is well aware of the conditions there because he himself was confined in the same punishment area, known among detainees as "the hole."
"There is no way for you to hang yourself or to kill yourself there. There is none," Aguilar asserted in an interview with CiberCuba.
According to his explanation, in those cells, inmates remain alone under constant surveillance, and guards check on their condition and sign a log every few minutes. He also assures that there is no physical point from which a person could hang themselves.
"If they had told me that he took his own life in the other place where I knew him, where we were with 100 people, I would have said yes, because there’s a second floor there, where one can hang themselves and there’s a piece of metal to tie something to. But in the place where he was, there’s no way someone could have hung themselves there," he recounted.
The testimony contradicts the official version reflected in the death certificate sent to the family, which states that González died by hanging.
According to Aguilar, the Cuban was sent to isolation after an altercation with an African American guard that occurred on the Sunday before his death. Denny, who did not speak English, did not understand the orders he was given, and the discussion ended in a struggle. The officer fell to the ground, hit his forehead, and ended up bleeding before being taken to a hospital.
For Aguilar, what happened afterward points to a retaliation.
"I believe that since he fought and hit the guard, the guards, being friends and getting along well, beat Denny and went too far, resulting in his death. That's what I am almost 100% sure happened to Denny," he stated.
The Mexican immigrant also stated that this suspicion is circulating among other detainees who remain in Stewart and with whom he still maintains communication.
Doubts grew even more when Aguilar managed to contact Denny's mother in Cuba. According to her account, the woman reacted immediately with a devastating phrase: “The guards killed him”.
Family members and close friends of the Cuban reject the official version of suicide and demand clarification of what occurred inside the center operated by the private company CoreCivic, which has recorded at least 14 deaths since 2006.
Aguilar described Denny as a calm, hardworking man who stayed away from conflicts. Inside the center, he made bracelets to sell in order to buy food because, as he said, the meals they received were in poor condition.
"Denny was a very humble person, he wasn't out looking for trouble, he wasn't foul-mouthed," he remembered.
The last time he saw him, between April 1 and 2, González was "super happy." He had been told that he would soon be deported to Mexico, where Aguilar had promised him a job and an apartment. He also hoped to reunite with his biological son, whom he had not seen in years.
González's death occurs amid growing scrutiny of the immigration detention system in the United States. A study published by the medical journal JAMA revealed that the mortality rate in ICE custody facilities reached its highest level in 22 years in fiscal year 2026: 88.9 deaths per 100,000 detainees.
The Cuban is also the third migrant from the island who died in ICE custody this year. Earlier, Geraldo Lunas Campos had died—whose autopsy concluded it was homicide by asphyxia in Fort Bliss, Texas—and Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt, who died in Miami in April.
Human rights organizations indicate that González's death would be the fourth or fifth case officially classified as suicide within the Stewart Center, although those who lived with him assert that the story told by the authorities does not align with the reality of that cell.
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