Medical neglect alleged in Canadian's death in U.S. ICE custody

A medical professional at a Miami federal prison allegedly failed to properly assess and treat a Canadian man before he died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, according to a complaint obtained by The Globe and Mail.

Johnny Noviello, 49, died at the Federal Detention Center Miami on June 23, 2025, after a Bureau of Prisons health provider was called because he appeared dizzy and unstable. The complaint says the provider "did not document the interaction she had with Noviello and had no clear assessment or treatment plan for the inmate before his cardiac arrest."

A preliminary assessment attributed his death to cardiac arrest. A full autopsy later cited idiopathic calcium oxalate nephropathy — a rare form of acute kidney failure that kidney specialists told The Globe should have been detected and should not have been fatal. All six kidney experts who reviewed his autopsy report said Noviello would have shown symptoms of kidney failure in the hours or days before his death — dizziness, vomiting, confusion, swelling — and that appropriate medical care could have prevented his death.

Noviello, who moved to Florida from Quebec as a child, was a U.S. permanent resident convicted in 2023 of drug-trafficking charges. He was arrested by ICE in May 2025 and held for five weeks before dying. The complaint was filed June 25, 2025, two days after his death. The FBI has been investigating since, but the agency has declined to release details.

His case highlights a broader pattern. A 2024 study by Physicians for Human Rights found that 95 per cent of in-custody deaths it reviewed between 2017 and 2021 could have been prevented by appropriate medical care. In the first six months of Trump's second term, 149 Canadians have been detained by ICE.