Lubbock County Detention Center — reactivated USMS/ICE hold facility, TX
Overview
The Lubbock County Detention Center (3502 N Holly Ave, Lubbock, TX) is a county-run jail that has held ICE/USMS detainees under intergovernmental agreement since at least 2012. Global Detention Project’s historical record shows the facility closed to migrant detention in 2019, with a 15-bed rated capacity and a “short-term (3 days or less)” classification, an original 1984 opening, and a $65/day per-detainee cost as of 2017.
That closure appears to no longer hold: ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight conducted a formal compliance inspection of “Lubbock County Detention Center” on March 17, 2026 — ICE only inspects facilities it is actively using or has recently used to hold detainees, so this confirms renewed ICE/USMS detention activity at the facility as of 2026, contradicting the 2019 “closed” status in older trackers. This aligns with two existing heatmap signals for the county: igsa:4 (covering this facility plus the separate Lubbock Hold Room at 1205 Texas Ave) and a JEM-model 287(g) agreement between ICE and the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office signed June 8, 2020 (on file in kb/287g/).
Key Details
- Operator: Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office (Sheriff Kelly S. Rowe), governmental facility, county-owned
- Contract type: USMS Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) / ICE IGSA
- 2026 status: Active compliance inspection March 17, 2026 (ICE ODO) — full report not yet published in searchable form as of this research date; full text should post to ice.gov within 60 days of inspection per ICE policy
- Historical capacity: 15 detainees (2017), average daily population 1-2 in 2017, 9 total migrant entries in 2012
- Historical rating: “Minimum Standards” (Good/Acceptable/Meets Standards) in 2017 inspection; “Deficient” in 2007 inspection
- 287(g) context: Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office already holds a JEM-model 287(g) agreement (signed 2020), making it one of the counties already in compliance ahead of Texas SB8’s new statewide mandatory-287(g) requirement (effective Jan 1, 2026, compliance deadline Dec 1, 2026 — see
kb/industry/notes/tx-sb8-mandatory-287g-2026.md)