Civil rights attorneys file lawsuit challenging 'inhumane' conditions at Indiana immigration detention center

A coalition of civil rights organizations — including the ACLU, the National Immigrant Justice Center, and the MacArthur Justice Center — filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday challenging the "inhumane and unconstitutionally punitive" treatment of detainees at an Indiana maximum-security correctional facility where many Chicago-area immigrants end up after their arrest.

A sprawling male prison in Bunker Hill, Miami Correctional Facility, about 150 miles from Chicago, opened around 2001 and today operates for both regular state prisoners and immigration detainees simultaneously. Informally dubbed the “Speedway Slammer” by federal officials, it belongs to a network of more than 250 immigration detention centers nationwide and has increasingly become a regional pipeline for those swept up by federal agents under President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation policies.

Civil right attorneys say conditions in the facility have become extremely dangerous, resulting in direct violations of the constitutional rights of detained immigrants. Since 2025, at least two immigrants have died while in custody. They say the lawsuit seeks accountability and the immediate reversal of these harsh conditions.

“People are suffering, people have died, and more people will suffer and die if those continue,” said Kathleen Hickey, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Illinois filing the lawsuit. “That's why we brought this lawsuit.”

Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor Indiana officials returned immediate requests for comment about the lawsuit.

Among the plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Southbend Division, is Cynthia Acevedo, a transgender immigrant from Guatemala who has reportedly gone months without consistent epilepsy medication, causing her to suffer multiple severe seizures a week that have resulted in physical injuries, including broken teeth.

The lawsuit further alleges that Acevedo was the victim of a sexual assault by another detainee after arriving at the Miami Correctional facility.

“Defendants failed to take her report on the assault for multiple days (despite her immediate attempts to report it), failed to examine her and conduct a rape kit, failed to provide her medication to prevent transmission of HIV, and failed to provide her requested HIV testing and any test results,” the lawsuit states.

Hickey says other immigrants have been denied critical HIV medications for months. She and other advocates argue detained individuals are also trapped in a system with dangerously inadequate medical and mental healthcare, exacerbated by filthy living conditions and a lack of adequate food.

“There's this level of abusive and arbitrary punishments like solitary confinement, excessive lockdowns, officers using racial and anti-immigrant slurs, and excessive use of force,” Hickey said.

Santiago Covarrubias/Sun-Times

In a press release issued last year, DHS announced it was partnering with Indiana to “expand ICE detention space” at the Miami facility, including increasing space by 1,000 beds. It also says the agreement was made possible with funds from Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Civil rights attorneys say local Indiana officials need to be held responsible, too.

"The state of Indiana and the federal government are working together to create a human rights disaster in one of Indiana's most dangerous prisons," said Alexa Van Brunt, director of the MacArthur Justice Center's Illinois Office. "The conditions are cruel and have resulted in the deaths of innocent people. Both the state and federal government must be held accountable for their heinous treatment of people locked inside Miami.”

The allegations of harsh treatment at the Miami Correctional Facility aren’t new. Lawyers in this lawsuit also point to a previous legal battle where the ACLU of Indiana recently secured $1.2 million in settlements over inmate abuse at the facility.

That litigation dates back to 2021, sparked by a single lawsuit filed on behalf of inmate Jeremy Blanchard. That initial case led to dozens of other prisoners coming forward, ultimately resulting in 30 additional lawsuits against the Indiana Department of Correction over what plaintiffs described as brutal conditions inside the prison’s "dark cells."

Adriana Cardona-Maguigad covers immigration for WBEZ. Follow her on X @AdrianaCardMag.