Facility
county-jail
Operational
Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center — MO, 400 ICE beds, conditions complaints (overcrowding, denied prenatal/medical care)
Ste. Genevieve, MO
FIPS 29186
500-bed jail; 400 beds allocated to ICE
Bed capacity
Operator: Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff's Office
Overview
The Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center, about an hour south of St. Louis in southeast Missouri, has become a major regional ICE holding facility. The sheriff expanded the jail to 500 beds, with 400 reserved for ICE detainees under an Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) at $103/day — roughly $15M/year at capacity. It houses ICE detainees transferred from across Missouri (including St. Louis) and southern Illinois. As of late May 2026, around 150 immigrants were held there.
On May 26, 2026, U.S. Reps. Wesley Bell (D-MO) and Nikki Budzinski (D-IL) toured the facility as members of the House Oversight Committee and reported serious conditions problems.
Key Details
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total jail capacity | 500 beds |
| ICE bed allocation | 400 beds |
| Current ICE detainees (May 2026) | ~150 |
| Daily rate | $103/detainee |
| Annual revenue potential | ~$15M |
| Contract type | IGSA |
Conditions documented by lawmakers (May 26, 2026)
- Overcrowding: A single room held 48 detainees. With beds running out, some sleep on thin inflatable trays a few inches off the floor.
- Medical neglect: Pregnant women not receiving prenatal care; detainees not receiving medical care.
- Water access: Some detainees said they went so long without drinking water that they resorted to drinking from the shower.
- Legal/notary access: Detainees reported difficulty reaching attorneys; reports of inadequate notary access despite jail claims that two notaries are always available.
Why This Matters
- Second major MO regional ICE hub alongside Greene County (Springfield). Ste. Genevieve receives transfers from a wide catchment including St. Louis city/county, which themselves refuse 287(g) and now ban local detention — so detainees are exported to rural lockups. See missouri-ozarks-ice-corridor.
- Congressional oversight escalation: The Bell/Budzinski tour is the first sustained federal scrutiny of a Missouri ICE jail’s conditions, documenting overcrowding and denied medical care.
- Conditions risk pattern: The neglect findings mirror the Phelps County (Rolla) facility, where a detainee died by suicide in April 2025. See phelps-county-jail-rolla-mo.
Sources
- KCUR: ICE detainees neglected at Missouri jail, lawmakers say (2026/05/27)
- STLPR: Immigrants held by ICE neglected at Ste. Genevieve County jail (2026/05/27)
- KSDK: Bell, Budzinski raise concerns following tour (2026/05/27)
- KFVS: Family members raise concerns about conditions (2026/05/27)
- The Appeal: Jail Support for Immigrants Held in Missouri (2026/03)
- ICE: Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center