The brother of Demi Adán González, the Cuban who was found dead in a solitary confinement cell at an ICE detention center, revealed that he was sent to that cell after hitting a guard.
Dayán Hernández González, Demi's older brother and resident of Spain, told CiberCuba that he obtained this information after reaching out to a friend of his brother inside the prison, using the phone number that Demi used to communicate from within.
That internal contact from the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, told Dayán that he hit a guard and was immediately sent to solitary confinement, days before being found dead on April 29, in circumstances that the family refuses to classify as suicide.
According to the testimony, the altercation occurred on the Sunday prior to April 29.
"My brother ended up slapping the guard, and he threw him to the ground, causing the man to hit his head and split it open, and he started to bleed," he detailed.
The injured guard was transferred to the hospital. Demi, on the other hand, was sent directly to solitary confinement: "They put my brother in isolation, in the hole, in the pit, as they call it," Dayán reported, citing his source inside the prison.
Days later, the same contact informed him that the version circulating within the center was that Demi "had been given a chemical substance and drank it," and that he was found dead "with blood-filled eyes and his mouth like this." However, the informant himself expressed disbelief. "They can't believe that inside there, since he was my brother and got along well with them."
The authorities at the center refused to provide explanations to the family. Officer Valdés, who called Dayán to inform him of the death, said: "We have no information, we are only obligated to inform you, but we cannot provide any explanations, we are not authorized to give details. Please give me your email address, and we will contact you when we have the death certificate."
The mother of the deceased Cuban demands justice. Lourdes González Suárez, who lives in Cuba, reacted with a powerful statement: "The guards killed him."
A former cellmate reports what happened and stated that the physical conditions of the isolation cell make it "impossible" for a hanging to occur, contradicting the official version.
ICE classifies the death as an apparent suicide. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has the case under official investigation.
The family is seeking help to send the remains to Cuba while awaiting responses.
The death of Demi is the third of a Cuban in ICE custody so far in 2026, and the eighteenth of an immigrant overall, the highest figure in 22 years according to Physicians for Human Rights. Solitary confinement, which the UN considers torture when it lasts more than 15 days, is identified as a central factor in this case.
Laura Hernández, executive director of Freedom for Immigrants, warned that "the vast majority of deaths in custody have proven to be entirely preventable, and are a direct result of ICE and prison officials denying critical medical care or failing to follow even the most basic emergency protocols."
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