Phelps County Jail — Rolla MO, ICE detainee suicide (Brayan Rayo Garzon, Apr 2025), resumed holding after brief pause
Overview
The Phelps County Jail in Rolla, ~100 miles southwest of St. Louis on I-44, began housing ICE detainees in March 2025. More than 350 people have been held there since — some for a single night, some for months. Republican Sheriff Michael Kirn told county commissioners his department’s budget was hurting and that partnering with ICE could generate millions in revenue.
The jail briefly stopped holding ICE detainees in August 2025 over cost concerns but has since resumed operations. It is one of at least four Missouri county jails contracting with ICE.
Key Details
- ICE detainees since March 2025: 350+
- Daily rate: per-diem (not disclosed; comparable MO jails run $100-110/day)
- Brief pause: August 2025, then resumed
- Contract type: IGSA
Detainee death — Brayan Rayo Garzon (April 2025)
A May 27, 2026 Associated Press investigation identified the Phelps County Jail as the site of the first suicide in a national 2025 spike of ICE-detainee suicides (at least 10 men nationwide since January 2025):
- Brayan Rayo Garzon died by suicide on his fourth day in isolation, while battling COVID-19 (fevers and chills).
- The jail took 35 hours to conduct the initial medical screening ICE promises within 12 hours.
- A nurse who did not speak Spanish used a “handheld translator” to assess Rayo and concluded he denied suicidal thoughts and depression.
Why This Matters
- Documented death from a conditions/oversight failure: The Rayo Garzon case is the lead example in a national AP investigation — a Missouri rural jail with delayed medical screening and language-barrier mental-health assessment.
- Revenue-driven detention in a distressed budget: The sheriff explicitly framed ICE contracting as a budget rescue, the same dynamic across the Ozarks corridor. See missouri-ozarks-ice-corridor.
- Conditions pattern: Mirrors neglect findings at ste-genevieve-county-detention-center-mo and the 96% civil-detainee load at greene-county-jail-springfield-mo.