South Central Regional Jail — West Virginia's primary ICE detention site, Charleston
Overview
South Central Regional Jail in Charleston (Kanawha County) is the primary ICE detention site in West Virginia. Operated by the WV Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation under a $90/day bed-rental arrangement with ICE, it held the majority of the state’s immigrant detainees during the 2025-2026 surge and absorbed the bulk of the January 2026 “Operation County Roads” sweep. It is also where most of the habeas litigation originated, and as of late March 2026 the WV jail system has suspended accepting new ICE detainees.
Key Details
- Rated capacity: 460
- Actual population: 516 (Oct 2025), 556 (Feb 3, 2026) — significantly overcrowded
- ICE detainees: Held the majority of WV’s 252 immigrant detainees as of Jan 26, 2026
- Contract: $90/detainee/day to WV DCR; ~48 beds contracted statewide
- Operation County Roads (Jan 5-19, 2026): Primary holding site for the 650+ arrests
- Status: Part of the WV system that suspended new ICE intake in late March 2026 following court orders
- Litigation: Judge Thomas Johnston ordered the release of detainee Danny Briceno-Solano from this jail (Feb 2026), finding he was held “without explanation, without a hearing, without notice”
Why It Matters
South Central is the anchor of West Virginia’s state-prison-as-ICE-detention model. Its overcrowding — running 12-20% over rated capacity while holding civil immigration detainees with no individualized hearings — was the factual basis for the federal court findings that shut down new ICE intake statewide.
Sources
- WV Watch: Three WV jails holding country’s ICE detainees are overcapacity (Oct 9, 2025)
- WV Watch: As federal judge says third immigrant wrongly jailed, jails overcrowded with ICE detainees (Feb 5, 2026)
- ICE: South Central Regional Jail, Charleston, WV (March 3, 2026)
- Mountain State Spotlight: More ICE detainees released in West Virginia (Feb 4, 2026)