What Happens in the First 12 Hours After Arrival at Stewart Detention (Medical & Screening)
The first hours after someone arrives at Stewart can feel like a black box from the outside. Here's what the facility is required to do for medical, dental, and mental-health screening—and how your loved one can ask for care after intake.
New arrivals at Stewart go through a comprehensive intake screening covering medical, dental, and mental health needs. This screening must happen as soon as possible after arrival - and no later than 12 hours. Anyone with urgent medical or mental health concerns gets prioritized. The goal is to catch immediate issues and flag anything that affects safety or care right away. Detainees are entitled to a full continuum of health services - from screening and prevention through diagnosis and treatment, with emergency care available when needed. For families, here's what matters: the first 12 hours aren't just paperwork and housing assignments. There's a required health check built into arrival, designed to identify urgent concerns quickly and connect your loved one to ongoing care inside the facility.
Key timing: Stewart’s intake screening (medical, dental, and mental health) is required as soon as possible after arrival and no later than 12 hours.
TB screening happens right at intake too. Stewart screens all new arrivals for tuberculosis within 12 hours, following CDC guidelines.
Early on, your loved one should be told how to get help if they're sick, in pain, or struggling mentally. Staff are required to explain - either orally or in a way the person understands - how to access health services, how to appeal decisions, and how to raise concerns about their care. This matters because intake screening is just the starting point. Knowing how to ask for help afterward (and how to escalate if something goes unaddressed) is part of what the facility must explain during admission.
- ✓ Your loved one can request health services on a daily basis.
- ✓ Requests can include medical, dental, and mental health care.
- ✓ The facility is expected to provide timely follow-up after a request.
- ✓ Emergency care is part of the continuum of services available when urgent needs come up.
The 12-hour screening is an initial check to catch immediate needs. A more thorough evaluation comes later: each detainee at Stewart must receive a comprehensive health assessment - including a physical exam and mental health screening - by a qualified, licensed healthcare professional within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arriving at the facility. Think of it in two phases. First, the intake screening within 12 hours. Then, the comprehensive exam within the first two weeks.
If your loved one received medical care at Stewart and is later released or removed, facility standards require discharge planning. That includes a discharge plan, a summary of medical records, any medically necessary medication, and referrals to community providers when appropriate. The goal is to prevent a sudden drop-off in care the moment someone leaves.
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