Julian Curo-Churata, a 47-year-old Peruvian national, died early Tuesday morning at a hospital in Monroe, Louisiana, after facility personnel found him in medical distress inside Richwood Correctional Center the evening before. He was pronounced dead at 4:01 a.m. CDT on September 29, according to ICE, roughly eight hours after staff transported him to the hospital around 8:14 p.m. the previous night.
The case was first reported by the Tampa Free Press, which detailed Curo-Churata's path through the federal immigration system in the months before his death. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations' Baltimore division arrested him on June 27, 2026, and served him with a notice to appear the same day, according to agency records cited in that report. Two days later, authorities transferred him into ERO New Orleans custody, which placed him at Richwood Correctional Center — a facility operated by LaSalle Corrections, a private prison company founded in Ruston, Louisiana that runs 18 correctional facilities holding more than 13,000 inmates and civil detainees across Louisiana, Texas, and Georgia, according to Wikipedia.
An immigration judge denied Curo-Churata's applications for relief from removal and voluntary departure on September 18, though he reserved his right to appeal that decision, per the Tampa Free Press account. Officials said he had entered the United States without inspection at an unknown time and location, and his record included a conviction for driving with an expired vehicle registration and a civil court judgment entered in favor of the Comptroller of Maryland. Agency officials stated he received medical care from health professionals during his detention.
Transferred More Than a Thousand Miles From Baltimore
Curo-Churata was transferred from a Mid-Atlantic arrest to a rural Louisiana facility, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Louisiana has the nation's second-highest number of detained immigrants behind Texas, with thousands held statewide, per the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
ERO New Orleans notified Curo-Churata's spouse, his attorney, and the Consulate General of Peru following his death, and the office sent formal notifications to the DHS Office of Inspector General and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility, per agency records in the Tampa Free Press report. The preliminary cause of death remains unknown pending an official autopsy, officials stated. ICE reports in-custody deaths to Congress, nongovernmental organization stakeholders, and news outlets, and files the records on its detainee death reporting webpage.
Richwood's History of Fatal Incidents and Federal Findings
Richwood Correctional Center has faced scrutiny before. In October 2025, a federal jury awarded $42.75 million to the family of Erie Moore Sr., a 57-year-old retired mill worker who died following an assault by guards at the facility in 2015, with the jury concluding that LaSalle Corrections failed to oversee or train its personnel, according to WFAA. A February 2023 Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General audit found that Richwood violated ICE detention standards by failing to maintain reliable translation services or a functioning detainee grievance tracking system.
The facility also recorded a fatal emergency in October 2019, when 43-year-old Cuban asylum seeker Roylan Hernandez-Diaz died by self-inflicted strangulation while held in solitary confinement at Richwood, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Curo-Churata was taken to Ochsner LSU Health Monroe Medical Center.
Part of a Broader Surge in Detainee Deaths
Curo-Churata's death arrives amid a dramatic rise in detainee mortality nationwide. In calendar year 2025, 31 immigrants died in ICE custody — a 20-year high — and the agency recorded 18 detainee deaths in the first four months of 2026 alone, putting facilities on pace for a record-breaking death toll, according to CBS News.
Louisiana's detention network has drawn particular attention in recent months. Georgian national Mamuka Artmeladze died on June 4, 2026, at Winn Correctional Center elsewhere in the state, the facility's second fatality in less than two months. U.S. senators sent formal inquiries to DHS demanding investigations into regional facility conditions following Artmeladze's death.
Required Screenings and Unanswered Questions
Under federal detention standards, individuals booked into ICE custody must receive an initial medical, dental, and mental health screening within 12 hours of arrival, a comprehensive health assessment within two weeks, and continuous access to emergency medical care.
Officials have not disclosed the specific nature of Curo-Churata's medical distress on September 28, and the exact span of time between staff discovering his condition and his transport to the hospital has not been made public. The results of the pending autopsy remain unknown. ICE has said it reports in-custody deaths through established channels to Congress, advocacy organizations, and the press as part of its standard disclosure process.
