In 2027, the doors of the largest state-funded infrastructure project in Indiana’s history will open. Already a winner of a “green” award for design sustainability, this public facility in the state’s northeastern corner includes 18,000 square feet of classroom space.
But this is not a community center or a free public college — it is the new 4,200-bed Northwest Indiana Correctional Facility for men.
In the words of the Indiana Public Defender Council, “policy choices, not crime rates” led to this prison’s construction, which promised to replace and consolidate the region’s decaying prisons. Yet in 2025 the state announced one of these ancient prisons will now stay open to incarcerate people abducted in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids…