Johnny Noviello had gained permanent resident status in the U.S. and lived in Florida for nearly four decades.Courtesy of family
The FBI is investigating the June death of a Canadian man in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a federally run prison in Florida.
Johnny Noviello, 49, was found unresponsive by prison staff at the Federal Detention Center Miami on June 23. He had been on medication for epilepsy and hypertension while incarcerated and, according to a recent ICE report, had been flagged for health concerns prior to his death. The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner has yet to release an official cause of death or autopsy report.
Mr. Noviello spent nearly four decades living in Florida, and he had gained permanent resident status in the U.S.
The deceased Canadian’s brother, Angelo Noviello Jr., said the medical examiner’s office informed him over the summer that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the death and that the autopsy may not be released for several more weeks. A source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed that an FBI agent has been assigned to Mr. Noviello’s case. The Globe and Mail is not naming the individual because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
FBI public affairs officer Special Agent Willie Creech told The Globe the bureau does not comment on “ongoing investigations.”
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The FBI has a mandate to investigate violent crimes and public corruption, including contraband smuggling in prisons. It is also the primary federal agency responsible for enforcing civil-rights law – including “colour of law” violations. This refers to abuse of power by government officials, such as use of excessive force or the deprivation of medical care to people in custody. The FBI can investigate in-custody deaths that occur at federal detention facilities upon the request of a local, state or federal agency.
“In this instance, it most likely was personnel from the Bureau of Prisons,” Special Agent Creech said in an e-mail.
Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Scott Taylor said the agency doesn’t confirm or deny investigations, nor does it provide information relating to them. “In general, the [Bureau of Prisons] can request the FBI to investigate a matter,” he said in an e-mail. “An example may be for an unexpected inmate death that is not clearly related to a medical condition or natural causes.”
Angelo Noviello Sr. holding a picture of his son, Johnny Noviello.Michelle Bruzzese/The Globe and Mail
Eunice Cho, senior counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, said it’s not typical for the FBI to investigate the death of an immigration detainee. The FBI’s involvement in Mr. Noviello’s case could be related to the fact that he died in a federal Bureau of Prisons facility, not an immigration facility, she noted.
FDC Miami is among the Bureau of Prisons correctional facilities that ICE has recently tasked with housing detainees amid the Trump administration’s unprecedented immigration crackdown, during which at least 149 Canadians have been detained, according to a recent Globe analysis of American enforcement data. Fourteen people have died in ICE custody this year.
Mr. Noviello was vulnerable to deportation as a non-U.S. citizen who had been convicted of several drug-trafficking charges in 2023. He was arrested by ICE in May at a probation office and spent five weeks at FDC Miami before his June 23 death.
On June 25, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General received a complaint related to Mr. Noviello’s death, records obtained by The Globe through American freedom-of-information laws show.
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According to a case summary report that references the complaint, the file was referred to a division of Homeland Security, the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which reviews and investigates alleged contraventions of departmental policy or civil-rights violations involving the department’s personnel. This includes concerns regarding due process rights, issues related to immigration enforcement, discrimination or abuse.
The nature of the complaint is redacted in the case summary report obtained by The Globe. However, the complaint was subsequently recommended for referral to the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General, the records show, since at the time there was “no alleged misconduct on the part of any DHS employee” and Mr. Noviello was “actually under the care/custody/control of the U.S Bureau of Prisons.”
ICE is a branch of Homeland Security, which has no authority over the Bureau of Prisons – the correctional arm of the Department of Justice.
The complaint was also forwarded to ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The DHS and ICE did not respond to requests for comment from The Globe.
A spokesperson for the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General said the organization “cannot confirm or deny the existence of ongoing investigations.”
The case summary report obtained by The Globe states that ICE’s Enforcement and Removals Operation division notified the FBI of Mr. Noviello’s death at approximately 2:13 p.m. on June 23, about 40 minutes after he was pronounced dead. The preliminary assessment of his death confirmed cardiac arrest, however the cause is yet to be determined. (Cardiac arrest is often cited in initial reports before a full investigation into the underlying cause of death is complete.)
The documents obtained by The Globe shed additional light on what happened the day Mr. Noviello died.
At 12:54 p.m. on June 23, FDC staff found Mr. Noviello unresponsive and declared a medical emergency. Approximately seven minutes later, prison medical staff began CPR, administered an automated external defibrillator shock and called 911. At 1:09 p.m., according to the case summary report, the City of Miami Fire and Rescue Department arrived on scene and continued “advanced cardiovascular life support and emergency life-saving procedures.”
An incident report from the fire department, which was released to the Noviello family through a formal records request and shared with The Globe, states that the “patient had pronounced cyanosis to all his fingers and toes” and “also had what looked [like] lividity around his ankles, hip and wrists.”
Cyanosis is the medical term for the bluish discoloration of the skin caused by inadequate oxygenation of the blood. Lividity refers to the reddish discoloration of the skin caused by the pooling of blood in the body when circulation stops.
Paramedics worked on Mr. Noviello for about 30 minutes and pronounced him dead at 1:36 p.m. Within an hour, various agencies and officials had been advised of the fatality, including the FBI and ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
Mr. Noviello’s relatives in the United States and Canada are still waiting for answers about what, exactly, caused the death.
Mr. Noviello’s Florida-based brother, Angelo, told The Globe he was initially informed the autopsy would be released within a month or two, but it has already been nearly three months since his sibling died and there is still no report.
“Unfortunately, without the cause of death on an official death certificate, Johnny’s remains can’t be shipped to Canada so [that] family up north can have their ceremony of life for him,” he said in a text message. “All we can do is keep calling for updates and wait.”