An expert in immigration law at Georgia State University in Atlanta is available to discuss the death of Jean Jimenez-Joseph, a Panamanian national who had been held in a Georgia immigrant detention center, and was found dead Monday due to self-inflicted strangulation.

Shana Tabak is a visiting assistant professor in the Georgia State College of Law and the university's Global Studies Institute. Her expertise includes immigration law, asylum and refugee law, and international human rights.

She is directly available at [email protected]. Tabak's bio is at http://gsi.gsu.edu/profile/shana-tabak-3/.

Jimenez had been held in solitary confinement in an immigration center in Stewart County, Ga., more than 100 miles southwest of Atlanta.

"The immigrant who committed suicide at the Stewart detention center Monday - after being held in solitary confinement for 20 days - was not being held on criminal charges but was held pursuant to immigration offenses," Tabak said. "This suicide sheds light on the need for increased oversight of the for-profit corporations that run US immigration detention centers; for mental health resources in detention; and legal assistance for immigrants who may be illegally detained."

Tabak has worked with several human and immigrant rights organizations in the United States, Latin America and the in the Middle East. During law school, she worked at the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, and was a Fulbright Scholar in Bolivia in 2002, researching migration, human rights and development.

In addition to her teaching in U.S. law schools, Tabak has also taught Spanish-language courses on human rights and clinical legal education in Colombia, as well as an introductory course to U.S. Civil Procedure for Latin American attorneys.

For further assistance in reaching Tabak, or to find other faculty experts on different topics, contact Jeremy Craig, public relations coordinator, at 404-413-1374 or [email protected].