Overview

The Etowah County Detention Center at 827 Forrest Avenue, Gadsden, AL is an 865-bed county jail that has been one of the most notorious ICE detention facilities in American history. After decades of documented abuse, ICE ended its contract in March 2022, citing a “long history of serious deficiencies identified during facility inspections.” Three years later, in February 2025, Sheriff Jonathan Horton announced at the National Sheriffs’ Association conference that the facility would resume housing ICE detainees.

Key Details

History of Abuse (pre-2022)

• Zero access to outdoor recreation for decades
• Inadequate medical and mental health care
• Meager and barely edible food
• Longest average length of stay for people detained system-wide
• Remote location limiting access to legal representation
• PREA violations documented
• Pandemic safety failures

Closure and Reopening

• 1998-2022: Operated as ICE detention facility (~25 years)
• March 2022: ICE ended contract under Biden administration, citing deficiencies
• Late Dec 2024/Jan 2025: Negotiations to reopen began
• Feb 4, 2025: Sheriff Horton announced reopening at National Sheriffs’ Association conference
• 2025: Facility inspection conducted; ICE detainees began arriving
• ICE Deputy Director Tom Homan personally encouraged sheriffs to participate in detention expansion

Current Status

The facility is once again housing ICE detainees as part of the Trump administration’s push to triple detention capacity. Sheriff Horton claimed the 2022 closure “didn’t have anything to do with the facility or the performance of the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office.” The Marshall Project labeled facilities like Etowah “zombie prisons” — detention centers that were supposedly closed but are being raised from the dead.

287(g) Agreements

Etowah County also maintains 287(g) agreements with ICE, adding enforcement capacity beyond just housing detainees.

Opposition

Multiple organizations opposed the reopening:

• Detention Watch Network
• Center for Constitutional Rights
• National Immigration Project
• Freedom to Thrive
• Adelante Alabama Worker Center
• Shut Down Etowah Campaign (longstanding local campaign)

Why This Matters

Etowah is the textbook case of a “zombie prison” — a facility so abusive that even ICE chose to close it, only to reopen it within three years under political pressure. The speed of reopening (negotiations began within days of the new administration) demonstrates how detention infrastructure, once built, is nearly impossible to permanently decommission.

Sources

• Notorious Alabama detention center to re-open (Detention Watch Network, Feb 2025)
• Etowah County Jail preparing to house detained immigrants (WBRC, Feb 4 2025)
• ‘Zombie Prisons’: How ICE Is Raising Troubling Facilities From the Dead (Marshall Project, Aug 29 2025)
• ICE Announces It Will End Use of Etowah County (NIJC, 2022)