An autopsy report released this week tied the death of a Haitian man detained in Arizona to severe dental problems, offering confirmation for claims his family had made after he died following months in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. The report said Emmanuel Damas’ death involved a serious infection that moved from his head and neck area, with the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office concluding that dental issues were part of the chain of events.
According to the autopsy report, Damas, 56, was detained at the Central Arizona Florence Correctional Center in Florence, Arizona. The medical examiner’s office concluded that he died from complications of a chest infection and abscesses in his neck and throat, and that those findings referenced his severe dental problems.
The report also described decisions Damas made during dental visits. It said he was placed on a waiting list after an October dental exam recommended he have a particular tooth extracted. When his chance to have it removed came about three months later, the autopsy report said he declined, saying the tooth didn’t hurt anymore. The report further said that in mid-February, he declined another recommendation to have teeth removed.
After Damas reported symptoms, the autopsy report said facility staff sought to move him to medical care. It said that when he complained of a sore throat and abdominal pain, staff asked that he go to the medical unit, but that he refused.
The autopsy report said Damas was transported to a hospital on Feb. 19 for respiratory failure, and that he was later sent to other hospitals for a higher level of care. The report said he died on March 2 at a hospital in Scottsdale.
In statements accompanying the autopsy, Raymond Audain, a lawyer representing Damas’ family, argued the death resulted from inadequate medical care in detention. The Associated Press reported that Audain said Damas died because of failures by ICE and CoreCivic, the private corrections company that runs the Florence facility, to provide him with basic medical care. The AP also reported that the family conducted its own private autopsy, and that Audain declined a request from the Associated Press for that report.
Audain wrote that the county’s autopsy “confirms what Mr. Damas’s family has determined through its own investigation: that Mr. Damas died of sepsis as a result of a descending infection from his head and neck that started with him experiencing tooth pain.” Audain also wrote that Damas “begged prison staff for medical care on numerous occasions including the night before he was hospitalized, but he was ignored.”
CoreCivic responded that it takes detainee deaths seriously. In a statement, the company said it cannot share specific information about a detainee’s medical care because of federal privacy laws, and that it is committed to providing safe, humane and respectful care while adhering to applicable federal detention standards and ensuring detainees receive appropriate and timely medical attention.
The autopsy report’s dental finding arrives amid broader scrutiny of deaths in ICE custody. The Associated Press reported that Damas was one of at least 51 detainees who have died in ICE custody since President Donald Trump’s second term began in January 2025, and that medical examiners have ruled many of the deaths to be from natural causes—an outcome experts have said can include conditions that are preventable with timely medical care.
In the Associated Press reporting, Damas’ case was described as the only one in which dental problems had been listed as a cause or contributing factor in a set of three dozen deaths where examiners and coroners released that information.