La Salle County Regional Detention Center — county-run IGSA facility, Encinal TX
Overview
A long-standing (opened 2004) county-owned detention facility in Encinal, TX, holding adult men — both criminal (convicted/remand) and administrative ICE detainees — under an Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) originally established with the U.S. Marshals Service in December 2004. Important correction to heat-map assumptions: this is a small county-run facility (~200-254 bed capacity), not a large private “mega-facility.” It is frequently confused in search results and casual sourcing with the much larger LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana (LaSalle Parish, GEO Group, 1,160 beds — the facility where Mahmoud Khalil was held) — a different facility in a different state entirely, operated by an unrelated corporate namesake (LaSalle Corrections/LaSalle Parish vs. Texas’s La Salle County). Do not conflate the two in future pipeline entries.
The Texas facility is owned/managed by La Salle County government; ICE is the custodial authority. Global Detention Project data lists “Emerald Companies Inc.” (Emerald Correctional Management) as historical private management (circa 2012) before operations transitioned toward direct county management. Current sourcing found no confirmation of GEO Group as operator of this Texas facility — that appears to be a conflation with the Louisiana facility of a similar name.
Key Details
- Opened: December 2004 (IGSA with US Marshals Service)
- Capacity: ICE lists ~200 beds; Global Detention Project cites a 2026 average daily population of 254
- Operator: La Salle County (governmental), historically with Emerald Correctional Management involvement; ICE is custodial authority
- Most recent ICE Office of Detention Oversight inspection: January 8, 2026, using the Federal Performance-Based Detention Standards (May 2025 framework) — full inspection report is FOIA-gated (403 on direct fetch as of this research pass; only the docket listing was accessible)
- Historical deaths: Global Detention Project cites 5 documented detainee deaths 2008-2017; most recent 2017 inspection rated “meets standards” tier
- Legal/outreach contacts: 213LOP@geogroup.com and SanAntonio.Outreach@ice.dhs.gov are listed as legal correspondence channels on some aggregator pages — this GEO Group email address is likely a generic ICE-wide Legal Orientation Program contact rather than evidence GEO operates this specific facility; flagged for follow-up, not confirmed.
Why It Matters
This is a small, mature IGSA facility rather than a new buildout target — the heat-score’s high igsa count (6) for La Salle County likely reflects long institutional history (opened 2004, in continuous ICE use for 20+ years) rather than fresh expansion activity. No evidence of capacity expansion, new construction, or operator change was found in this research pass. Treat as a stable/legacy signal, not an active-buildout signal, absent new reporting.