(WINN PARISH, LOUISIANA) – A 43-year-old man from Georgia died in ICE custody at Winn Correctional Center on June 4, 2026, according to an ICE statement that said he was found unresponsive inside the facility and pronounced dead at a local hospital less than an hour later.

ICE identified the detainee as Mamuka Artmeladze. The agency said staff began lifesaving measures after he was discovered unresponsive. ICE also said the autopsy is pending, and no official cause of death has been released.

The death adds to a growing tally inside immigration detention. ICE has reported 19 detainee deaths in custody since January 1, 2026. At Winn, it was the second detainee death since April 11, 2026. The earlier death involved Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, 49, whose coroner’s report listed natural causes related to cardiovascular disease.

Winn Correctional Center is in Winn Parish, Louisiana. The facility is operated through the Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office and LaSalle Corrections. ICE said Artmeladze had been held there for nearly four months before his death.

Deaths in civil immigration detention can trigger several layers of review, even before any lawsuit is filed. ICE detention standards generally require medical care, emergency response procedures, and death reporting. Federal detention conditions also may become the basis for constitutional claims or statutory claims, depending on where a person was held and what facts emerge from medical records, incident reports, and witness statements.

Legal standards in these cases often turn on custody status and the forum. People held by ICE are in civil detention, not serving criminal sentences. Challenges to detention conditions may arise under the Due Process Clause, and records disputes often involve the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552. Immigration detention authority itself appears in provisions including INA § 236 and INA § 241, depending on whether a person is in pre-removal or post-order detention. The precise legal route usually depends on the detainee’s posture, location, and any prior removal order.

No court filing tied to Artmeladze’s death had been publicly identified Wednesday. The absence of an autopsy leaves the central medical question unresolved. In custody-death cases, the autopsy, toxicology findings, treatment timeline, and transport records often shape what follows, including internal review, public records litigation, or wrongful death claims by relatives.

ICE attributed the basic facts of the death to its own public statement. The underlying excerpt referenced two citations, marked [1] and [2], but did not identify them by name. ICE had not publicly released additional detail about Artmeladze’s medical history, the exact time he was found, or the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The federal government has faced repeated scrutiny over medical care in detention, especially when a death occurs after an emergency response inside a contracted or locally run facility. Family members and counsel typically seek the detainee’s A-file, medical records, surveillance footage, and incident reports. Those records are not always released quickly, and some may be withheld or heavily redacted absent litigation.

Anyone trying to locate a person held at Winn or another ICE facility can use ICE’s online detainee locator and may request records from ICE through FOIA and from the Executive Office for Immigration Review at [justice.gov/eoir](https://www.justice.gov/eoir). Relatives dealing with a recent death in detention should preserve names, dates, medical information, and contact logs immediately. Cases involving detention conditions, death review records, or possible wrongful death claims usually require a qualified immigration attorney working with local civil counsel.

Warning: A pending autopsy means the official cause of death remains unconfirmed. Early public statements in detention deaths do not settle questions about medical care, timing, or facility response.

Practical step: Families should request the detainee’s A-file, medical records, and incident reports as soon as possible, and ask counsel to evaluate any filing deadlines under state wrongful death law and federal records statutes.

⚖️ Legal Disclaimer: This article provides general information about immigration law and is not legal advice. Immigration cases are highly fact-specific, and laws vary by jurisdiction. Consult a qualified immigration attorney for advice about your specific situation.

Resources: [AILA Lawyer Referral](https://www.aila.org/find-a-lawyer)
Immigration Advocates Network
[EOIR](https://www.justice.gov/eoir)
[USCIS](https://www.uscis.gov)