Miami Correctional Facility — Indiana state prison housing 1,000 ICE detainees, two deaths in custody · IN · Up to 1,000 ICE beds · Indiana Department of Correction

Overview

Miami Correctional Facility, a high-medium security Indiana state prison in Bunker Hill (Miami County, ~90 minutes north of Indianapolis), began housing ICE detainees in October 2025 under a two-year agreement between the Indiana Department of Correction and DHS. It is the largest activated ICE detention site in Indiana and a core node in the emerging Midwest deportation hub. By spring 2026 it had become the focus of Indiana’s immigration-detention controversy: two detainees died in custody within two months, a multi-million-dollar federal payment dispute emerged, and statewide protests demanded its closure to ICE.

Key Details

Contract: Two-year IDOC–DHS agreement, October 1, 2025 – September 30, 2027
Capacity: Up to 1,000 ICE detainees (adult males, medium-maximum security, stays longer than 72 hours)
Population: ~550 detainees as of early 2026
Rate: $291.24 per bed per day — nearly four times the per-person daily cost of housing state inmates at the same facility
Initial infrastructure costs approved: $15.8 million
Medical contractor: Centurion Health
AOR: Chicago ERO Field Office

Deaths in Custody

Two ICE detainees died at Miami Correctional within less than two months:

Lorth Sim, 59, a Cambodian lawful permanent resident — found unresponsive in his cell, pronounced dead February 18, 2026. The Miami County coroner ruled the cause atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with diabetes mellitus a significant contributing condition.
Tuan Van Bui, 55, a Vietnamese man who had lived in the U.S. for 25+ years — found unresponsive and died April 1, 2026. Cause of death under investigation.

These are among at least 15 deaths in ICE custody nationally in 2026.

Conditions

A Freedom for Immigrants hotline received nearly 70 calls from people inside the facility in December 2025 alone, reporting severe medical neglect, inadequate food, and physical abuse by guards. Specific reports include:

Two-week wait to receive Tylenol for a fever; delayed access to medication
Only two sets of underwear/socks/clothing; no regular access to working washers or dryers
Frequent lockdowns lasting six to seven days confined to cells

The ACLU of Indiana flagged concerns over adequate medical monitoring, timely access to care, and treatment of chronic conditions, and questioned medical staffing and the scope of care provided by Centurion Health.

Payment Dispute

As of May 2026, the federal government was roughly five months behind in payments and owed Indiana about $10 million.

Indiana spent $12.5 million housing detainees (Oct 2025–March 2026) but received less than $5.1 million from ICE
Last payment received: November 2025 ($3.86M in Nov, $1.17M in Oct)
The Indiana Department of Revenue attributed the delay to “working through initial reimbursement requests and review by the federal government”

Congressional Oversight & Opposition

Rep. André Carson conducted an April 2026 oversight visit, cited “heartbreaking” detainee accounts and the two deaths, and called for an end to ICE detention at the facility.
ACLU of Indiana demanded urgent answers on the deaths and medical care.
May 16–17, 2026: Nearly 30 protests across Indiana (coordinated by the Indiana Organizing Project) demanded an end to ICE detention at Miami Correctional, including rallies in Mishawaka, Speedway, and a vigil on Mass Ave in downtown Indianapolis.

Why It Matters

Miami Correctional is the proof-of-concept for Indiana’s Midwest detention buildout: it is the one large facility already operational while the proposed Indianapolis 8,500-bed warehouse and Camp Atterbury remain in planning. The deaths, conditions complaints, and payment lag show the strain of standing up state-prison ICE detention at scale — and have made it the flashpoint for statewide opposition.

Detention Pipeline

Miami Correctional Facility — Indiana state prison housing 1,000 ICE detainees, two deaths in custody