The Canadian who died while he was in custody of the United States immigration and customs control (ICE) had several health concerns in the weeks prior to his death, according to a report published on Wednesday.
The report occurs exactly one month after Johnny Noviello, 49, was found unanswered at a Federal Detention Center in Miami.
The day after Noviello was arrested, he was diagnosed with a seizure and hypertension disorder. He was prescribed anticonvulsive and blood pressure medicines, according to the report.
Noviello had been in the United States since 1988 and became a legal permanent resident in 1991.
The Canadian citizen was convicted of a series of crimes in 2023, including extortion and drug trafficking, and had been sentenced to 12 months in prison, according to an ICE release.
He was arrested by ICE in a Florida probation office on May 15. Noviello’s lawyer argues that he had not violated the terms of his probation.
Noviello was being arrested as “pending elimination procedures,” the agency said in a press release.
On June 8, a medical provider requested a mental health reference for Noviello after he informed “feeling sad and depressed” and refused to go to a medical clinic for an evaluation.
The next day, according to the ICE report, he told the staff that he had not eaten in “a time.”
“A supplier evaluated Mr. Noviello at the request of a [behavioural health provider] BHP, and documented that Mr. Noviello maintained poor personal hygiene, “says the report, and points out that a supplier discussed with him the” importance of self-higiene and adequate diet. “
On the afternoon of June 23, prison staff found Noviello without responding without a pulse and with low body temperature and blood sugar levels.
The Miami Fire Rescue Department took care of his care and tried to relive it for half an hour, before pronouncing it dead.
The cause of Noviello’s death is unknown and is under investigation.
