Overview

The Baker County Detention Center in Macclenny, Florida is a separate facility from the state-run “Deportation Depot” at the former Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson (see baker-county-fl-detention) — both sit in Baker County and both hold ICE detainees, but this is the older, sheriff-run county jail. Built out under Sheriff Scotty Rhoden starting 2008 as a facility designed to hold both county and federal inmates, it has operated under ICE Inter-Governmental Service Agreement DROIGSA-09-0038 for roughly two decades and has become one of the most heavily documented sites of alleged detainee abuse in the national ICE detention system. Suspected undocumented immigrants arrested by federal or local law enforcement across Northeast Florida are held here during investigations and deportation proceedings — making it a regional intake/holding node feeding the broader Florida detention pipeline, distinct from Deportation Depot’s role as a high-volume state-built deportation-processing facility.

Key Details

• IGSA reference: DROIGSA-09-0038 (ICE.gov facility pages P00001-P00027, multiple contract modification documents on file)
• Sheriff: Scotty Rhoden; Undersheriff Randy Crews; Capt. Evelyn Blue named as defendants in litigation
• Medical/operations contractor named in complaints: Armor Correctional Health Services, with oversight by Baker County Corrections Management Corp. (BCCMC)
• Complaint volume: 259+ complaints since 2017 (over half of the 470 total logged across Florida’s four ICE detention facilities, per ACLU tracking); ACLU of Florida alone has received close to 500 complaints since 2020
• ACLU investigation: Began spring 2024 — facility tour, confidential legal interviews with 25+ detained individuals, medical-record and public-record review
• Litigation — Doe v. Rhoden: ACLU of Florida amended federal complaint alleging First Amendment violations (denial of confidential legal communication access) and retaliation against detainees for speech about facility conditions; court denied defendants’ motion to dismiss, affirming detention centers cannot obstruct counsel access without legal consequence
• Litigation — Serrabi case: ACLU of Florida and Sanctuary of the South amended federal lawsuit on behalf of Guillermo Serrabi alleging unlawful detention, excessive force, and due-process violations; documented 88 days of solitary confinement despite deteriorating mental health and ongoing medical-care requests, used per the complaint to pressure a deportation-paper signature; a Dec. 21, 2021 incident alleges an officer (Collins) assaulted Serrabi, causing bleeding and lasting hearing damage
• Documented pattern: ACLU characterizes BCSO/Armor (with BCCMC oversight) as engaging in “a pattern of inappropriate and unsafe use of solitary confinement,” plus language-barrier-driven discipline (a bathroom request from a Spanish-speaking detainee escalated to a month of solitary confinement), restrictive legal-mail/phone policies, and medical neglect
• ACLU campaign: Active public petition — “Tell ICE to Shut Down the Baker County Detention Center Now”
• Related state scrutiny: Baker County Sheriff’s Office is separately under a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation ordered by Gov. DeSantis (originally June 2024; 8th Circuit State Attorney Brian Kramer recused over a prior Rhoden campaign endorsement; case reassigned to 4th Circuit State Attorney Melissa Nelson; extension granted to June 4, 2026). Publicly stated reasons for the investigation have not been disclosed, and as of this research (July 2026) no outcome/closure has been publicly reported — status is pending/unresolved, not resolved. Sheriff Rhoden has characterized the probe as a “political strategy.”

Why It Matters

This is the clearest documented case in the Baker County signal set of the conditions-abuse pattern that recurs across IGSA county-jail ICE contracts nationally: a small rural sheriff’s office holds a decades-old federal detention contract with minimal public oversight, an under-resourced/subcontracted medical apparatus (Armor), and a complaint volume wildly disproportionate to the facility’s size, while remaining structurally difficult to dislodge because the county has years of contractual and budgetary dependency on the federal per-diem revenue. It also demonstrates that a county’s detention pipeline exposure is not fully captured by looking only at the newest, most publicized facility (Deportation Depot) — the older, quieter IGSA contract can carry equal or greater documented harm.

Sources

• CRCL Complaint - Baker County Detention Center — ACLU of Florida
• Immigrant Tortured in Prolonged Solitary Confinement at Baker County Detention Center — ACLU of Florida
• Federal Judge Rules against Baker County Detention Center in Lawsuit Alleging Constitutional Violations — ACLU of Florida
• Tell ICE to Shut Down the Baker County Detention Center Now — ACLU petition
• Detainees allege abuse, isolation at Baker County Detention Center — The Independent Florida Alligator (March 2025)
• ACLU: Baker County ICE not “caring to understand” non-English speakers — WUFT (Dec 5, 2024)
• Suit over Baker County Sheriff’s handling of ICE detainees awaits judge’s ruling — Jacksonville Today (July 2, 2024)
• DROIGSA-09-0038: Baker County Sheriff’s Department IGSA – Macclenny, FL — ICE.gov contract documents
• Baker County Sheriff’s Office under state investigation; 8th District State Attorney recuses himself — First Coast News
• Baker County sheriff responds to FDLE investigation into sheriff’s office — First Coast News