FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 15th, 2022
Dawn Wooten Awarded HMH First Amendment Award
WASHINGTON—This Thursday, Government Accountability Project client Dawn Wooten will be honored with the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. The award “spotlights individuals who have made significant contributions to protecting and enhancing First Amendment rights for all Americans.” It will be presented on September 15th, exactly two years after Ms. Wooten’s public disclosures of criminal medical malpractice and public health failures at an ICE detention center in Georgia.
Ms. Dawn Wooten, LPN, was a nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) where she witnessed critical failures on behalf of the ICE facility to protect immigrants in detention and workers from COVID-19. Ms. Wooten also disclosed that detained women were undergoing hysterectomies and other gynecological procedures without informed consent. These explosive revelations were covered by The Intercept on September 14th and 15th, 2020, and eventually spread throughout the media, inciting passionate calls for reform from immigration justice organizations, medical professionals, and members of Congress.
The impact of Ms. Wooten’s disclosures was profound: 57 victims of medical mistreatment at ICDC came forward and are currently seeking justice through a class-action lawsuit, and multiple investigations were launched by Congress, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG), and the Department of Justice. In May 2021, DHS Secretary Mayorkas ordered ICE to sever its contract with ICDC, ending all immigrant detention at the facility by September 2021.
While DHS acted within months to address the problems she exposed at ICDC, the agency has still not yet issued findings in her original whistleblower retaliation complaint. Despite her impact and even the honors she will be receiving this week, Ms. Wooten, a single, Black mother of five children continues to suffer retaliation for her disclosures, including repeated and explicit blacklisting from dozens of open nursing positions due to local awareness and resentment of her whistleblowing.
Louis Clark, Government Accountability Project founder and President and recipient of the same First Amendment Award at its inception in 1980, said:
“We at Government Accountability Project are thrilled that the HMH Foundation is honoring Dawn Wooten for her courageous speech, without which the horrific abuses she exposed would have continued unaddressed. This award, in recognizing the importance of Dawn’s whistleblowing, recognizes the value of all whistleblowers, whose speech is vital to promoting justice and a functioning democracy.”
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Contact: Andrew Harman, Government Accountability Project Communications Director
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 202.926.3304
Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, Government Accountability Project’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, Government Accountability Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.