'Louisiana Lockup': ICE’s Newest Prison Is Open for Business

DHS officials confirmed that 51 illegal immigrants have already been transferred to the facility, according to Fox News. A section of the prison has been repurposed to house them, providing around 416 beds, all made possible by funding from President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which allowed ICE to add approximately 80,000 new beds to help expedite deportation efforts.

The illegal immigrants will be housed in an unused section of the prison called Camp J, which was formerly called the "Dungeon," as most of the cells in this section were used for solitary confinement. In preparation for ICE's use of the facility, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency in late July, allowing for expedited repairs on Camp J.

The “Louisiana Lockup” is the newest prison to be turned into an ICE detention center, following the “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida, the “Cornhusker Clink” in Nebraska, and the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana.

The facility, formally known as Angola Prison, sits on 18,000 acres of land and was once known as the "bloodiest prison in the South." According to the prison's museum, the prison earned its reputation in 1962 due to how common stabbings were. In 1971, inmates sued the prison and won a class action case, forcing a federal court to step in and order reforms to its brutal conditions.