Documents show ICE detention facility ignored pleas for Chinese-speaking cellmates before detainee's death
Newly released records indicate that Chaofeng Ge died by suicide in an ICE detention center after staff failed to process his requests for Chinese-speaking roommates.
Chaofeng Ge died by hanging in a shower stall at an immigration detention facility in western Pennsylvania on August 5, 2025, after his pleas for help were ignored, according to newly released government documents. Ge, an immigrant from China who only spoke Chinese, had made two desperate requests to be placed with inmates who spoke his language. These requests were not fulfilled despite the presence of other Chinese detainees in the facility, raising questions about whether the tragedy was preventable.
Ge arrived at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, on July 31, 2025, after being transferred from a county prison. Transfer paperwork indicated he had a history of suicide attempts and a diagnosis of mental illness. However, the facility deemed that Ge did not require immediate evaluation upon arrival, according to a psychological autopsy report conducted by the Health Service Corps of ICE.
Shortly after his intake, Ge asked to be housed with Chinese-speaking detainees. He made a second request on the night of August 4, stating that isolation was affecting his mental health. A note written by Ge expressed his frustration, quoting a corrections officer as saying, “Not my duty.” The psychological autopsy report noted that facility policy required three work days to respond to requests, leaving Ge’s appeals unprocessed due to the weekend.
The report acknowledged that Ge was socially isolated and likely experiencing elevated suicide risks associated with such conditions. An internal investigator from the GEO Group, which operates the facility, confirmed that while no Chinese detainees were in Ge’s unit, four were present in another unit at the time of his death. The isolation is known to exacerbate mental health symptoms, which were already documented in his transfer records.
An investigation by the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility found that staff failed to perform timely security rounds after midnight. Ge was found hanging at 5:19 a.m., having been dead for at least an hour. Staff delayed cutting him down due to concerns about disturbing a crime scene and because a lockbox containing the necessary tool was jammed shut.
The report also mentioned claims by some staffers that Ge’s binding method was a traditional Chinese suicide practice, a notion community leaders have publicly rejected. Jicheng Wang, former president of the Henan Association of Eastern America, stated, “Hanging is a suicide method that appears more often in classic Chinese novels than in reality.” Lawyers for Ge’s family are preparing a lawsuit based on these findings.