Emmanuel Damas, a Haitian man detained at the Central Arizona Florence Correctional Center, died after his dental problems became part of the medical explanation for his death, according to an autopsy report released this week. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office said the death was related to Damas’ dental issues, a finding that matched what his family had argued.
The medical examiner’s office concluded that Damas died from complications of a chest infection with abscesses in his neck and throat area, and the cause of death also referred to his severe dental problems. The report placed the death in the context of Damas’ time in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, where he died after months at the facility in Florence, Arizona.
According to the autopsy report, Damas was placed on a waiting list after a dental exam in October recommended that he get a particular tooth extracted. When the opportunity to have that tooth removed came three months later, the report said Damas declined, saying it didn’t hurt anymore.
The report also described further resistance to dental treatment recommendations. It said that in mid-February, Damas declined another recommendation to have teeth removed, even after later developing symptoms while in detention. After he complained of a sore throat and abdominal pain, facility staff asked that he go to the medical unit, but the autopsy report said he refused.
The timeline in the autopsy report continued with escalating care. It said Damas was transported to a hospital on Feb. 19 for respiratory failure and later sent to other hospitals for a higher level of care. The report said Damas died on March 2 at a hospital in Scottsdale.
Raymond Audain, a lawyer representing Damas’ family, said in a statement that Damas died because of failures by ICE and the private corrections company that runs the Florence facility to provide basic medical care. Audain wrote that the county’s autopsy “confirms what Mr. Damas’s family has determined through its own investigation,” and he said Damas died of sepsis as a result of a descending infection from his head and neck that started with tooth pain. He also said Damas “begged prison staff for medical care on numerous occasions including the night before he was hospitalized, but he was ignored,” in the statement.
Audain said the family had a private pathologist conduct an autopsy on Damas, but he declined a request from The Associated Press for that report. The AP sought comment from ICE about the autopsy findings, according to the report.
CoreCivic, which operates the detention facility in Florence, said it takes detainee deaths at its facilities seriously. In a statement, the company said it is “unable to share specific information about a detainee’s medical care due to federal privacy laws,” but that it is committed to providing “safe, humane and respectful care for everyone entrusted to us.” It added that it will adhere to “all applicable federal detention standards” and ensure detainees receive “appropriate and timely medical attention.”
The Associated Press report said 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. It also said that, like Damas’ death, medical examiners have ruled the majority of other deaths to be from natural causes, and that experts have said many deaths stem from conditions they described as preventable with timely and effective medical care.