The “Speedway Slammer” now has a price tag: $16 million, so far.
That’s how much the state budget committee approved the Indiana Department of Correction to spend on renovations for the Miami Correctional Facility 70 miles north of Indianapolis so that it can serve as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.
Gov. Mike Braun announced the plan to use 1,000 empty beds at the facility for ICE detainees in early August, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem echoed the announcement with the moniker “Speedway Slammer” ― to the chagrin of the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Nor does the state Department of Correction prefer to adopt that name, which is reminiscent of the federal government’s nickname for a similar facility in Florida, “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“I do not want to see my state compared to the so-called Alligator… whatever they call it down there in Florida,” Democratic state Rep. Ed Delaney told Indiana Department of Corrections Commissioner Lloyd Arnold, expressing concern about the treatment of and legal representation for detainees. “I would really encourage you to distinguish yourself.”
“We are trying to even refrain from the moniker name that was given,” Arnold replied. “We prefer ‘Miami Correctional Facility’ because that’s what it is. We’re going to have a detention center for those people that are in our care and ensure they get back to their country of origin in a safe manner.”
The department says the maximum-security prison needs building upgrades and equipment, including exhanced fencing, lighting, temporary housing for staff, drug and drone detection systems and x-ray screening equipment.
The $15.8 million the department wants to spend has already been appropriated in the state budget, but the state budget committee must review and approve spending on construction projects costing more than $250,000.
Arnold said he believes Indiana taxpayers will ultimately not foot this bill ― that the per-detainee reimbursement from the federal government will be profitable enough to cover these capital costs.
The federal reimbursement at Miami Correctional Facility will be $291 per day per detainee, Arnold said, which is seven times greater than the $42 a day the state pays per prisoner in local jails. After the program gets up in running, the federal government guarantees in its contract with Indiana to make sure there are at least 450 detainees, or else the feds will pay for the shortage, Arnold said.
“We wouldn’t be doing it if there’s not a built-in profit,” Arnold told lawmakers.
But the more pressing problem the department has to solve in order to run an ICE detention facility is attracting staff.
The facility has for years struggled with staffing and violent incidents among prisoners and officers. The reason why the facility has 1,000 empty beds to use is because the department has only been operating in half the 3,100-bed facility since 2021, limited by its staffing levels.
To handle the new ICE population, the department needs to hire 170 additional correctional officers, Arnold said.
To attract employees amid competition from nearby auto manufacturers like Stellantis and GM, Arnold said the department wants to pay officers $28 an hour, which is a $6 raise.
Indiana already has one of the largest ICE detention centers in the Midwest with the Clay County Jail, which has been housing detainees since 2013. Three other county jails, including Marion County, also serve as detention centers. Camp Atterbury has also been floated as a potential site for detainees.
Immigration advocates have roundly criticized these developments as turning Indiana into a “new regional hub for ICE detention.”
“Our state’s growing role in ICE’s detention and deportation machine is a direct attack on immigrant Hoosiers — our coworkers, students and neighbors,” Sayra Perez, organizer at the Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance, said in a statement.
More: Shrinking staff, rising violence: Problems have plagued proposed ‘Speedway Slammer’ for years
Contact IndyStar Statehouse reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on X @kayla_dwyer17.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana to spend $16 million renovating ‘Speedway Slammer’ for ICE detainees
