Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center — MO, 400 ICE beds, conditions complaints (overcrowding, denied prenatal/medical care)
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.
Sheriff’s Office rebuttal (early June 2026)
After the tour, the Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office issued a detailed public statement (via Sun Times News, early June 2026) disputing the lawmakers’ findings point by point:
- Water: Every cell and pod has sinks with hot/cold running water plus daily ice coolers; all detainees issued drinking cups with continuous access.
- Food: Three hot meals/day (~3,800 calories, ~130g protein); medical/religious diets accommodated.
- Medical: On-site staff of three LPNs, a paramedic, an EMT-certified deputy, and a trained CO; an outside healthcare provider contracts with the jail; a physician visits weekly; the hospital is directly across the street.
- Prenatal: Pregnancy testing at intake, prenatal vitamins, OB/GYN appointments, extra mattresses, high-protein diets (up to 220g/day), extra snacks, increased monitoring.
- Overcrowding: Not directly rebutted; the office said the facility was “specifically engineered and designed” to hold both criminal defendants and civil detainees by federal classification.
- Major Jason Schott called it “a very good meeting and tour” and said the office believes it operates “an excellent detention center.”
The rebuttal sets up a contested-conditions standoff: lawmakers’ detainee interviews vs. the sheriff’s facility-capacity description. Attorney/notary access was not addressed in the rebuttal.
On June 2, 2026, KFVS aired a follow-up on a mother and daughter held at the facility awaiting an asylum hearing — continued local coverage keeping the conditions story alive.
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.
- No exit via habeas going forward: Detainees here are in the Eighth Circuit, where Herrera Avila v. Bondi (Mar 25, 2026) eliminated the bond-hearing right that had freed many Midwest detainees through 2025-early 2026 — so people now face prolonged detention in a facility with contested conditions rather than release on bond. See bond-hearing-circuit-split-2026.
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)
- Sun Times News: Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office responds to criticism following congressional visit (2026/06)
- KFVS: Mother, daughter detained by ICE await asylum hearing (2026/06/02)
- FOX2: Concerns raised over ICE detainees at Ste. Genevieve County jail
- ICE: Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center