Federal Correctional Institution, Miami

The Federal Correctional Institution, Miami (FCI Miami) is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Florida. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a division of the United States Department of Justice. The institution also has an adjacent satellite prison camp that houses minimum-security male offenders.

FCI Miami is located in southwest unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, about from Downtown Miami.

A significant portion of the inmates held at FCI Miami have been convicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

History

In 1976, FCI Miami served as a center for youth offenders which explains its campus-like architecture and the presence of a lake in the middle of its compound (the only BOP facility with such landscape feature). In the late 1970s, and in response to Haitian and Cuban immigration patterns, the facility changed missions and became an immigration detention center. It is estimated that between 1977 - 1981, more than 70,000 Haitians (possibly up to 200,000) and as many as 125,000 Cubans (Mariel Boatlift) " Marielitos" migrated to South Florida with many of them being detained at the facility until their legal status was clarified. The facility did not have nearly enough capacity to hold even a significant portion of the refugees, so the Federal Bureau of Prisons, with the assistance of the military and other federal agencies, created detention camps inside and outside Florida to house them.

In the late 1980s, and in response to the drug wars that gripped Miami, the facility changed missions and became an "administrative detention center" for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, housing many of those suspected of participating in the drug wars. With the new mission came a new name and the facility became known as the Metropolitan Correctional Center - Miami (MCC-Miami). The vast majority of those individuals charged would eventually be found guilty of participating in the illicit drug trade at which time they would be transferred to another federal facility to serve their sentences.

While the institution was still an administrative facility and called MCC - Miami, some notable inmates served their time there. Such as Lou Pearlman, Manuel Noriega, and Yahweh ben Yahweh.

Yahweh Ben Yahweh, born Hulon Mitchell, Jr., joined the Nation of Islam in the 1960s only to leave it some time later and become a faith-healing Christian preacher. Some in his congregation believed he had a direct line to God, while others believed he was God. In 1978, he moved his congregation to Liberty City, Florida where he brought together the city's Black Hebrew Israelite congregations and founded the Nation of Yahweh. The Nation of Yahweh became active in its new city and engaged in charitable activities and multiple business ventures. All of these activities won them praise around the city and on October 7, 1990, the mayor of Miami, Xavier Suárez, declared it to be "Yahweh ben Yahweh Day." This award ceremony took place a month before Yahweh ben Yahweh and his organization were indicted and charged under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Between 1990 and 2001, he and others from his congregation served eleven years of an eighteen-year sentence on a RICO conviction for conspiracy for their role in more than a dozen murders.

In June 1995, the facility changed missions once again and became known as the ''Federal Correctional Institution - Miami'' (FCI-Miami). It no longer would house inmates waiting for their cases to be heard in court but would instead detain inmates serving their sentences. At times the facility has been considered a "low security facility" and other times a "medium security facility." It is presently considered to be a "low security" facility.

In March 2024, former White House trade advisor Peter Navarro, who was the first former White House official to be imprisoned for a contempt of Congress conviction, began serving a four month sentence at the facility.

Extraordinary Incidents

In 1986, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) thwarted a daring escape planned by two inmates at MCC- Miami. Gary Wayne Betzner and Terry Jackson Briceno planned to be in the recreation area of their housing unit when a helicopter would fly overhead, drop a rope ladder, and help them escape. Instead, once the helicopter flew over them they spotted three FBI agents in the helicopter and several others on the grounds.

In 1989, another inmate, Benjamin "Barry" Kramer attempted to escape by helicopter. Once again, this attempt failed when the helicopter struck a recreation fence and crashed.

On October 24, 1992, MCC - Miami was struck by Hurricane Andrew effectively rendering it inoperable for one year. The BOP's minimum-security facility (the "Camp") which had been located in Homestead, Florida and also destroyed by Hurricane Andrew, was transferred to MCC Miami's extensive grounds during that year. In 1993 both facilities were re-opened.

Notable inmates (current and former)

Renaming proposal

On April 2, 2024, Representative Guy Reschenthaler and six other Republicans in the House of Representatives introduced a bill to rename Virginia's Dulles International Airport to the " Donald J. Trump International Airport." This infuriated several Democratic House members representing Virginia, including Rep. Gerry Connolly who responded on X that due to the number of felony charges facing the former President, "they find a federal prison" to name after him. The next day Connolly proposed a bill to rename the Miami Federal Correctional Institution as the "Donald J. Trump Federal Correctional Institution". Connolly noted that it was the closest federal prison, 90 miles south, of the former President's home Mar-a-Lago. Neither renaming bill was seen as likely to pass into law. The Bureau of Prisons also pointed out that the reasoning for naming their facilities after locations is to provide clarity to families of the incarcerated.

See also

*List of U.S. federal prisons
*Federal Bureau of Prisons
* FDC Miami
*Incarceration in the United States

References

{{Federal Bureau of Prisons

Buildings and structures in Miami-Dade County, Florida
Prisons in Florida
Miami
1976 establishments in Florida
Government buildings completed in 1976
Men's prisons