Immigration detainees held at Indiana’s Miami Correctional Facility are suing state and federal agencies for what they say are inhumane and unconstitutional conditions.
The 72-page court filing details medical neglect, cells flooded with human waste, and abusive punishments detainees claim to have experienced at the maximum security prison used by the Trump administration for its immigration enforcement policies.
The lawsuit also alleges conditions at the facility violate the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment due process clauses because the detainees are civil detainees, not under criminal convictions, and are facing punitive punishments like lockdowns and solitary confinement.
The ACLU of Indiana and Illinois filed a class action lawsuit Thursday, Oct. 29, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. The lawsuit covers the three named plaintiffs and all other detainees at the correctional facility north of Kokomo.
"Frankly, they are experiencing physical decline, potential long-term medical consequences, and, like, severe emotional distress and suffering,” said Katie Hickey, an attorney with the ACLU of Illinois representing the plaintiffs.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE and Indiana Department of Correction are listed as plaintiffs. Representatives for the agencies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit comes after continued reports from detainees, lawyers and advocates about the conditions at the prison. This summer Gov. Mike Braun called for an audit to review the private healthcare provider the state contracts to work in the facilities after reports from the IndyStar on delays in medical care for detainees.
Indiana began housing Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees at Miami Correctional in October 2025 through a two-year contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Miami Correctional is a maximum security facility for men.
Since detainees began to arrive, there have been two reported deaths.
In the lawsuit, plaintiff Cynthia Acevedo said healthcare providers at the facility switched her to a different seizure medication that is ineffective at preventing seizures. Even then, Acevedo, a transgender woman, does not regularly receive the medication and has multiple seizures a week. When she goes to get medical treatment, no Spanish translator is made available.
Sergei Vasenin and Kemoye Muslar, the other plaintiffs, share their experiences of slow and limited medical care and regular solitary confinement and lockdowns.
During a 10-day lockdown, Muslar said his cell flooded over with sewage for three days. He was not provided cleaning supplies or hygiene products.
The detainees also allege guards call them racial slurs, threaten death and physically beat them without any reason.
The lawsuit details a case of a recent suicide attempt by a detainee. It alleges, staff were notified of concerns for the man’s mental health. It goes on to say that guards locked him alone in his cell where he went on to use a cable and hang himself according to witnesses. The lawsuit says the condition and whereabouts of the detainee remain unconfirmed.
The plaintiffs are asking for the court to declare the facility’s medical and mental health care and conditions inadequate and in violation of the the Fifth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment due process clause.
‘Further litigation forthcoming’
Hickey said she hopes this lawsuit forces changes but also gets answers to what has occurred at Miami Correctional Facility.
“The people who have died, the recent suicide attempt. There’s been no transparency from the government about all of that, so we hope that we can learn a lot more about all of these things in Miami over the next; over the coming months,” Hickey said.
For more than a year religious leaders have gathered monthly at or near the prison to pray for the detainees being held there and their families. André Carson visited Miami Correctional in April demanding answers to the deaths in the facility. After speaking with people held at the prison he said the state needed to end its holding of ICE detainees there.
Other groups including the Indiana Organizing Project have held events across the state calling on the governor to end the contract with ICE or at least not renew it.
Indiana Organizing Project Executive Director Stuart Mora said nothing in the lawsuit surprised him and it comes as conditions fail to improve.
“I think that there will be further litigation forthcoming,” said Mora. “Our team has not seen significant changes in Miami Correctional, since the governor called for an investigation several months ago.”
The ACLU was joined by the National Immigrant Justice Center, Macarthur Justice Center and law firm Dunn Issaacson Rhee in filing the lawsuit on behalf of the detainees.
Contact WFYI health reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org or on Signal at SamHorton.05
