No new construction: Feds to use 1k empty Indiana prison beds to house immigration detainees

By Niki Kelly and Leslie Bonilla Muñiz

News of the co-called “Speedway Slammer” is roiling Indiana, with confusion over a plan to house up to 1,000 immigrants in the Hoosier State.

Many people online believe — and some outlets are reporting — that new construction will add 1,000 beds.

This is likely related to misleading federal messaging, like a Tuesday post by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“COMING SOON to Indiana: The Speedway Slammer,” she wrote. “Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with the state of Indiana to expand detention bed space by 1,000 beds. Thanks to @GovBraun for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country.”

But Indiana Department of Correction spokeswoman Annie Goeller said there will be no expansion of the existing Miami Correctional Facility in Bunker Hill. The north-central Indiana prison is simply making 1,000 existing, but unused, beds available to the federal government to increase its detention capacity.

“The Miami Correctional Facility has a total capacity of over 3,100 beds, of which approximately 1,200 are not filled,” she said.

Other details about the partnership are still being determined.

Meanwhile, INDYCAR and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway aren’t pleased with the use of the moniker, which hearkens to the state’s big race. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security even posted an altered photo of an open-wheel race car on a track with a prison in the background.

“We were unaware of plans to incorporate our imagery as part of yesterday’s announcement,” the organizations said in a corporate statement. “Consistent with our approach to public policy and political issues, we are communicating our preference that our (intellectual property) not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter.”

Kevin Orme, who directs the Indiana Department of Correction’s Construction Services Division, said the empty beds are “ready for occupancy.”

“We’re heating and cooling the structures anyway,” he told skeptical Democratic lawmakers at an unrelated State Budget Committee meeting Wednesday.

Orme said the agency has implemented “setbacks” to save on energy expenses for empty buildings, but can’t let the temperature or humidity “deviate, or you start getting structural issues.”

He directed lawmaker questions about the costs of hosting federal detainees to the agency’s commissioner, Lloyd Arnold.

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun called the cost question “a valid issue” in comments to reporters on Tuesday. But he didn’t provide an estimate.

“My goal is that anything we’re doing for them that we get compensated for it,” he said of the federal government.

The partnership to provide existing beds is unrelated to the construction of a new prison in LaPorte County. There, a 4,200 bed-facility is being built for $1.2 billion. It is expected to open in 2027

Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.