The Federal Detention Center, Miami (FDC Miami) is a prison operated by the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...

. It is located in

downtown Miami Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida, United States. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and ...

, at the corner of Northeast Fourth Street and North Miami Avenue. The administrative facility employed 311 staff as of 2002 and housed 1,512 male and female inmates as of July 15, 2010.

Background

Built in 1995, the detention center was designed for a capacity of 1,259 inmates. The facility primarily houses prisoners of the

U.S. Marshals Service The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the U.S. federal judiciary. It is an agency of the U.S. Department of Jus ...

, both male and female. Its mission is to provide a safe and humane confinement of inmates and detainees, many of whom are involved in federal court proceedings in the Southern District of Florida.

Security procedures

Inmates are screened by a unit team member, and assigned quarters based on personal profile and security needs. Each unit team is composed of a unit manager, case manager(s), correctional counselor(s), and at times, an education representative. A federal register number is assigned to each inmate for identification and forwarding of correspondence while in federal custody. In June 2010, the facility's security procedures prevented attorney Brittney Horstman from meeting a client when her

underwire bra An underwire bra (also under wire bra, under-wire bra, or underwired bra) is a brassiere that utilizes a thin, semi-circular strip of rigid material fitted inside the brassiere fabric to help lift, separate, shape, and support a woman's breasts. ...

set off a

metal detector A metal detector is an instrument that detects the nearby presence of metal. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal objects on the surface, underground, and under water. A metal detector consists of a control box, an adjustable shaft, and ...

. After returning from a bathroom without the item, she was turned away because of the detention center's dress code. The federal

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Si ...

's office contacted Warden Linda McGrew, who conducted an inquiry. McGrew concluded the incident was "an aberration" and promised it would not happen again.

Sexual victimization

According to a 2005

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

report, an estimated 12 percent of the complaints received by the department's inspector general involved inmates claiming sexual victimization by prison staff. In 2009,

federal judge Federal judges are judges appointed by a federal level of government as opposed to the state/provincial/local level. United States A U.S. federal judge is appointed by the U.S. president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in accordance with Arti ...

Cecilia Altonaga Cecilia María Altonaga (born December 26, 1962) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She was appointed in 2003 by President George W. Bush an ...

wrote that although the

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...

had passed to award damages in a civil case, "the BOP and FDC Miami did have notice of the illegal conduct taking place, and were woefully deficient in addressing it."

Location

The prison is located in downtown Miami, at the corner of Northeast Fourth Street and North Miami Avenue. In 2021, a luxury apartment complex called "Downtown 5th" had been built opposite the prison on what was previously a parking lot. It went viral two years later for its rooftop pool area directly across the street from the prison, where sunbathing women in bikinis were shouted at by inmates.https://www.newsweek.com/shock-miami-apartment-building-pool-overlooked-jail-florida-1772201

Notable inmates (current and former)

†Inmates in the

Federal Witness Protection Program The United States Federal Witness Protection Program (WPP), also known as the Witness Security Program or WITSEC, is a witness protection program codified through 18 U.S. Code § 3521 and administered by the United States Department of Justice ...

are not listed on the Bureau of Prisons website.

References

External links

Federal Detention Center, Miami
{{Federal Bureau of Prisons Prisons in Florida

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Buildings and structures in Miami 1995 establishments in Florida Government buildings completed in 1995