URGENT ACTION

RELEASE DIABETIC AT RISK
In May 2024, Timofei Kocheshkov, a Russian man seeking safety, was detained while entering the USA with a CBP One appointment. He is currently being held at Folkston Detention Center in Georgia state. Timofei lives with Type 1 Diabetes and is dependent on receiving insulin three times a day and ongoing medical care. Despite numerous requests for medication, medical records from Russia, and his deteriorating health, Timofei has been deprived of proper medical care. We demand Timofei’s immediate release from detention to ensure he receives adequate healthcare to prevent him from continued decline and possible death.

Kristen Sullivan, ICE Atlanta Acting Field Office Director
Email: Kristen.sullivan@ice.dhs.gov

Dear Acting Field Office Director Kristen Sullivan,

On 12 May 2024, Timofei Kocheshkov (A#: 249-137-576), a Russian citizen seeking political asylum in the U.S., was detained despite arriving to the border with a CBP One appointment. He was sent to Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. In the fall of 2024, Timofei was transferred to Folkston Detention Center in Folkston, Georgia. 

Timofei was diagnosed with Diabetes at five years old. Since his transfer to Folkston, Timofei has not received adequate glucose monitoring, insulin, or food which have dramatically impacted his health. 

Timofei is now experiencing complications that require urgent and consistent medical care that he can only adequately receive outside of detention. Without proper care Timofei is at risk of serious medical complications resulting from his underlying chronic illness, including amputation of limbs, falling into a coma, and death. 

The dangerous and inadequate conditions at Folkston Detention Center have been well documented by numerous organizations that detail the substandard medical care, unsanitary conditions, abuse and mistreatment that has led to preventable deaths in custody, most notably the recent April 2024 death of  Jaspal Singh, a 57-year-old man, suffered chest pain and eventually died after a doctor delayed treatment. The facility’s medical care “deviated beyond safe limits and directly contributed to his death,” according to the review of his death conducted by ICE.

Timofei is in urgent need of medical care, and his condition is worsening every day. I implore you to use your prosecutorial discretion to immediately and unconditionally release Timofei so that he can access the urgent medical care he desperately needs. 

Sincerely,

Additional information

Timofei Kocheshkov, age 21 is a Russian national who fled Russia seeking political asylum with his older brother and parents in 2024. Timofei and his older brother Vadim entered the U.S. in May 2024 through California. Despite entering with a CBP One appointment, they were immediately detained and were sent to Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. In the fall of 2024 Timofei and Vadim were transferred to Folkston Detention Center in Folkston, Georgia. Their parents remain in detention in Arizona. 

Timofei was diagnosed with Diabetes at five years old. Since his transfer to Folkston, Timofei has not received adequate glucose monitoring, insulin, or food which have dramatically impacted his health. Timofei has seen medical staff at Folkston and detailed in his affidavit and incident reports that he was misdiagnosed, given the wrong type of insulin despite repeatedly asking for the correct medication, doses and glucose monitoring. In his written statement seeking help Timofei says, “Every time I ask for medical help, I have to wait weeks to see a doctor. Doctors have told me that they cannot treat me properly in here. My life every day is closer to hell. My limbs might be amputated; I may fall into a coma and die.” Timofei’s older brother shared, “I don’t know how to encourage him anymore — every day it is breaking him down both mentally and physically.”

Complaints against the treatment of people detained at the Folkston Detention Center led to a visit by DHS’s inspector general’s office in November 2021. The investigators spent two days at the facility interviewing staff and individuals detained there and reviewing facility operations and medical records of the foreign nationals. Their report released to Congress found numerous abuses “that compromised the health, safety, and rights of detainees.”

The GEO Group was just awarded a $47 million contract to turn a private prison in Georgia into an expanded immigration detention facility. The result will be a nearly 3,000-bed complex, making it the largest immigrant detention center in the U.S. Broadly, the US has seen a 40% increase (from June 2024 to June 2025) of people in ICE detention, currently an average of 56,000 people per day, the highest in US history. The recent passage of the 2025 Reconciliation Bill, otherwise known as Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” has expanded ICE’s budget to $150 billion of taxpayer dollars to carry out its mass detention and deportation plan. It is crucial to ensure that facilities where human rights are being violated are held accountable and detained individuals are released from detention to receive the medical care they need to survive. 

PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: English
You can also write in your own language.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 1 February 2026 
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PRONOUN: Timofei Kocheshkov (He/Him/His)

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: N/A

Additional information

His Excellency Mr Warren Stephens
Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary 
U.S. Embassy   
33 Nine Elms Lane, SW11 7US   
CF020 7499 9000   
Monday-Friday 0830-1730 
Salutation: Your Excellency