State receives first monthly payment for ICE detainees

Indiana has received its first payment for housing federal immigration detainees at the Miami Correctional Facility in northern Indiana — $1.17 million.

The Indiana Department of Correction said Wednesday the payment is for 4,040 ICE beds at a bed rate of $291.24 a day for October. That invoice was submitted during the federal government shutdown and was delayed.

Payments for subsequent months are expected in the coming weeks, the agency said.

This money is in addition to a $6 million upfront payment the department received for facility preparation.

Indiana has a two-year agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold up to 1,000 detainees at a time in a previously unused wing of the prison. It is a high-medium security prison holding only men.

Miami is considered a long-term facility by ICE, holding the men for three days or more. The average stay is expected to be about three weeks but was running at about a month when Indiana Capital Chronicle toured the facility in December.

The immigration detainees are kept separate from about 1,800 state prisoners who are held in an identical set of buildings.

Indiana’s State Budget Committee in September approved $16 million for facility upgrades.

Department of Correction Commissioner Lloyd Arnold said that would be recouped by the high per diem rate, which is about four times four times the $75 daily per-person cost for inmates at the prison.

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.