Etowah County Detention Facility

Etowah County Detention Facility Information

The Vital Role of the Etowah County Detention Center

Overview 
The Etowah County Detention Center located in Gadsden, Alabama serves as the primary jail and maximum-security detention facility for Etowah County. With a current capacity of 950 beds, the facility provides secure detention for inmates and detainees under the jurisdiction of the county justice system.

Origin and Expansion 
The Etowah County Detention Center first commenced operations in 1994. This followed a 1989 court ruling, Rogers v. Etowah County, which found the existing county jail within the Etowah County Courthouse to be overcrowded and unsafe. To address this need, Etowah County constructed and opened the current detention centre after securing funding through a $12.3 million county bond issue approved in 2001. The initial centre nearly doubled the capacity of the previous jail to 852 beds. Over the years, the Etowah County Detention Centre has undergone additional expansions and renovations to reach its present 950 bed capacity.

Intake Process 
The booking unit serves as the single point of entry and exit for the detention centre. All detainees entering the facility must pass through the intake booking process. Detention officers thoroughly search each new arrival and catalogue any property in their possession for safekeeping. Interviews gather pertinent personal details, while fingerprinting and other identification checks help validate identities. The intake process also includes medical and mental health assessments to identify any treatment needs. This comprehensive booking process ensures proper searching, identification, and evaluation of detainees prior to detention.

Housing Options 
After booking, detainees are assigned to one of several housing units within the detention centre. Placements are based on factors such as security classification levels and special medical or mental health needs. Lower security detainees may be housed in open dormitory units with constant direct supervision by detention officers. Higher security populations are accommodated in more controlled unit environments with barrier walls and indirect supervision. Additionally, specialized medical units house detainees with contagious diseases, mental illnesses, or other healthcare concerns, ensuring appropriate care. The diversity of housing options allows customized placements tailored to each detainee.

Healthcare Services 
Providing medical and mental health services is a critical function of the Etowah County Detention Center. The facility maintains a fully equipped on-site clinic that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The skilled clinical staff includes nurses, physicians, mental health professionals, dentists, and other specialists. They provide examinations, emergency or urgent care, medications, treatment of chronic conditions, dental work, mental health counselling, and related services. External hospitals and medical providers are utilized when required for advanced or specialized care. Maintaining detainee access to healthcare remains an ongoing priority.

Programming 
In addition to housing units and clinical services, the Etowah County Detention Centre offers educational, vocational, counselling, religious, and recreational programming. Courses allow detainees to pursue GEDs, develop job skills, continue addiction recovery, participate in worship services, and productively occupy their time. The IMPACT program focusing on life skills such as communication and problem solving was introduced in 2021. Special volunteer programs also connect detainees with religious leaders, educators, and other community members for mentorship. This diverse programming aims to facilitate rehabilitation, personal growth, and readiness to return to society after release.

Compliance and Standards 
Adhering to legal regulations and best practices is a major function facilitated by a dedicated compliance team. The team oversees the facility's accreditation through the American Correctional Association and other organizations which validate responsible, ethical operations through rigorous certifications. Detainee rights, safety, and humane treatment are priorities supported by a culture of compliance and accountability at every level. The Etowah County Detention Centre first achieved accreditation from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care in November 2018.

Historic ICE Usage 
In addition to housing county detainees, the Etowah County Detention Center maintained contracts for many years with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain immigrants awaiting hearings or deportation, beginning in 1998. However, after complaints of alleged substandard conditions for the ICE detainees housed in Etowah, ICE terminated its contract in March 2022 and no longer utilizes the facility. This ended decades of intermittent ICE usage which had provided revenue to the county. Debates continue regarding balancing financial incentives with ensuring exceptional detention conditions for immigrant populations housed in both public and private detention centres across the country.

Looking Ahead 
For over 25 years, the Etowah County Detention Center has provided secure and human detention services including housing, healthcare, programming, and standards compliance. As societal views on incarceration and criminal justice continue to evolve, opportunities exist to expand recidivism-reduction initiatives, restorative justice programming, facility upgrades, and alternatives to detention. However, the core role of the facility as custodian and rehabilitation facilitator for the county's detained populations is expected to remain unchanged into the foreseeable future.

Conclusion 
The Etowah County Detention Center first opened in 1994 after previous facilities were deemed inadequate. In 2022, Immigration and Customs Enforcement terminated a decades-long contract for housing detainees at Etowah after complaints emerged. Despite changing usage agreements, the Etowah County Detention Centre continues serving its vital role as custodian and guardian of inmate populations for over 25 years and counting. Though often invisible to the public, the facility undeniably provides essential community functions with an eye toward both security and humanity.
 

Phone: 256-534-8154

Physical Address:
Etowah County Detention Facility
827 Forest Ave.
Gadsden, AL 35901

Mailing Address (personal mail):
Inmate's Full Name & A-Number
Etowah County Detention Facility
827 Forrest Avenue
Gadsden, AZ 35901

Other Jails and Prisons

Search Etowah County Detention Facility Inmates

Search Etowah County Detention Facility Inmates

How Do You Find Someone in the Etowah County Detention Facility?

How to Find Someone in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detainee Locator

When someone that is not a US Citizen gets arrested in the United States, and they are here illegally, depending on what state or city they are arrested in, the person may be turned over to ICE. 

Many states such as New York and California, as well as hundreds of US cities, have declared themselves 'sanctuary cities' and do not turn over foreigners here illegally, even if they are committing crimes in their jurisdiction.

However, when an alien here illegally is turned over to ICE, and sent to one of the over 100 Immigration Detention Centers in the United States, the only way to try and locate where they are being detained is using the Online Detainee Locator System.


There are two ways to search for an ICE Detainee:

You can look them up using their assigned A-Number.

  • An A-Number is a 9-digit number that either looks like this: A-123456789, or like this 123-456-789. This is required if you do not know their name.
    It is also called a Registration Number when on a visa, or a USCIS# when on a Green Card.
    If for whatever reason the A-Number you have does not have 9-digits, you need to add 0s (zeroes) to the front of the number until the number has 9-digits.

    That number might then look like this:  001234567.


You can also try and look them up by using their name.

  • In order for this to be effective, you need to have the exact name that is either on their paperwork, or the the name with the exact spelling that they gave ICE. This is required.
  • You also need to know the country of their birth, or the country of their birth that they gave ICE. This is required.
  • Knowing their Date of Birth is helpful but not required to find them in the system.


Important things to know about using the ICE Detainee Locator

  • You do not need to set up an account to use the Detainee Locator System.
  • A-Number stands for 'Alien Registration Number'.
  • The System does not have information on all detainees in custody.
  • Juvenile names are NOT in the System.
  • The Detainee Locator System is updated every 8 hours, sometimes sooner.
  • If the detainee is being moved to a new facility, the new location will not be shown until they have arrived and are processed. 
  • No warnings or prior notice are given in advance of a detainee being moved.
  • While being transferred to a different facility they may still be shown online as being in the original facility.
  • If you are planning a visit, always call before you come to confirm the detainee is still at the facility and has not been moved.
  • To visit a detainee you must have some type of government issued photo ID, or other identification when photo identification is unavailable for religious reasons.
  • If you are unable to find the detainee using the System, contact the ICE Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in the area where you believe the person's immigration case was initiated or the Detainee Reporting and Information Line (DRIL) at 888-351-4024.

Pamphlets in various languages with Instructions on how to use the Online Detainee Locator System:

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Directions / Map to the Etowah County Detention Facility
Understanding US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

What is an ICE Detention Center?

Men, women, and children that are in the United States illegally and are apprehended by the US Border Patrol or ICE will most likely be placed in removal proceedings and may be detained in one of the more than 200 jails and detention centers that make up ICE’s detention system.

Many of the illegal immigrants that are detained are held in county and local jails that contract with ICE to detain immigrants. The rest are held in dedicated immigration detention facilities run by ICE or contracted to private prison corporations, including family detention centers that hold mothers and children.

What Determines if an Illegal Immigrant gets Detained?

ICE will typically detain an immigrant because DHS (Homeland Security) believes that an illegal immigrant is either a “flight risk” and may move to another location within the U.S. or that they pose a public safety threat. Detaining the person allows the government to guarantee that the person will show up for their hearing before an Immigration Court.

Some of the reasons that causes an illegal immigrant to get arrested and held in detention prior to their day in court is as follows:

The illegal immigrant has:

  • committed a crime, or multiple crimes
  • arrived at the border without a visa prior to formally applying for asylum or refugee status
  • an outstanding removal (deportation) order on record, either pending or past due, or
  • missed prior immigration hearing dates.

 

How do you find someone that is in an ICE Detention Center?

The first step to finding out if an illegal immigrant is in ICE or DHS custody is by using the ICE Detainee Locator.

It’s easier to find the person if you have an Alien Number (A#), if one exists. A green card or work permit will show this number. If you don’t have an A# the person is much more difficult to locate.

The information you will need is as follows:

  • the person’s full name as it appears in the ICE System. The exact spelling and the order of how the name is listed is required.
  • the person’s date of birth
  • the person’s country of birth

If you are having difficulty, try different spellings and the order of how the name is listed.

If the illegal immigrant was only recently detained, the ICE Detainee Locator may not be updated with the latest information. Keep in mind that ICE does not give information (online or over the phone) for people under 18 years of age. In such cases, you can only get information on them from the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations field office nearest you.

If the person you are looking for is not in an ICE Detention Center, they may have been taken to a local jail that contracts with ICE, so contact their local City and County Jail, all which can be found here.

Another option, short of the expense of hiring an Immigration Lawyer, is to go to this website and use their online form to get their help.

Once an illegal immigrant is located and you find out the facility where they are being held you need to find out the Deportation Officer that has been assigned to their case. The Officer can tell you how to call or visit the detainee, or pay for the detainee to be able to call you, or how you can send any needed items such as clothing, prescriptions, etc.

The last option, and the most expensive, is to hire an experienced immigration attorney to assist you in tracking down the Deportation Officer. If the person being detained requires specific medical care, an attorney can ensure that they receive that care.

If the detained illegal immigrant has been deported from America previously or has an outstanding removal order - in which case they have no right to see an immigration judge - they can be removed within a few days, or even hours, of the initial arrest.

Even if the government does not immediately remove the person, it is possible that they can be moved around to different Detention Centers. There is never a warning that a person is being moved around and during the transfer there is a complete blackout of any information.

How long are people held in ICE Immigration Detention Centers?

The time that an illegal immigrant is held in an ICE Detention Center can vary. It all depends on several factors such as the individual’s personal situation, criminal record, the severity of the crime they are being charged with, previous deportations and the current caseload that the Detention Center is dealing with.

This image portrays the most recent data available on the time a detained illegal immigrant remains in custody before their release and/or deportation.

Can you visit someone in ICE Detention Centers?

The short answer is yes. The person visiting an illegal immigrant in an ICE Detention Center must be lawfully present in the United States. In other words the visitor must have some form of currently valid immigration status at the time of the visit. A detention center or jail will not allow the visit unless visitor can show valid I.D. and offer proof that they are lawfully in the United States.

If you want to become a volunteer that visits illegal immigrants in order to offer emotional support, it may be possible. You can join one of these visitation networks by going here and contacting the network in your area.

What crimes can cause an illegal immigrant to be deported?

(The following information comes from Nolo.com, a trusted legal resource)

  • Conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude (see list). This includes any attempt or conspiracy to commit such a crime. It does not include crimes that were committed that the illegal immigrant committed when they were under the age of 18 years, however the person must have been released from jail more than five years before applying for a visa or other immigration benefit. It also does not include crimes for which the maximum penalty did not exceed one year in prison and the person was not, in fact, sentenced to more than six months in prison.
  • Conviction or admission of a controlled substance violation, whether under U.S. or foreign law. This includes any conspiracy to commit such a crime.
  • Convictions for two or more crimes (other than purely political ones) for which the prison sentences totaled at least five years. This multiple-offense ground of inadmissibility applies whether or not the convictions came from a single trial and whether or not the offenses arose from a single scheme of misconduct or involved moral turpitude.
  • Conviction of or participation in (according to the reasonable belief of the U.S. government) controlled substance trafficking. This includes anyone who knowingly aided, abetted, assisted, conspired, or colluded in illicit drug trafficking. It also includes the spouse, son, or daughter of the inadmissible applicant if that person has, within the last five years, received any financial or other benefit from the illicit activities, and knew or reasonably should have known where the money or benefit came from.
  • Having the purpose of engaging in prostitution or commercialized vice upon coming to the United States, or a history, within the previous ten years, of having engaged in prostitution.
  • Procurement or attempted procurement or importation of prostitutes, directly or indirectly, or receipt of proceeds of prostitution, any of which occurred within the previous ten years.
  • Assertion of immunity from prosecution after committing a serious criminal offense in the U.S., if the person was thus able to depart the U.S. and has not since submitted fully to the jurisdiction of the relevant U.S. Court.
  • Commission of particularly severe violations of religious freedom while serving as a foreign government official.
  • Commission of or conspiracy to commit human trafficking offenses, within or outside the U.S., or being a knowing aider, abettor, assister, conspirator, or colluder with such a trafficker according to the knowledge or reasonable belief of the U.S. government. Also inadmissible are the spouse, son, or daughter the applicant if they, within the previous five years (but when older than children), received financial or other benefits from the illicit activity and knew or reasonably should have known that the money or other benefit came from the illicit activity.
  • Conviction of an aggravated felony, if the person was removed from the U.S. and seeks to return (this ground of inadmissibility lasts for 20 years)
  • Seeking to enter the U.S. to engage in money laundering, or a history of having laundered money, or having been (according to the knowledge of the U.S. government) a knowing aider, abettor, assister, conspirator, or colluder with money launderers.

These are the straightforward crimes that are mentioned in the immigration law. The statute also lists a number of security violations, such as involvement in espionage, sabotage, terrorism, Nazi persecution, totalitarian parties, and so forth.

Once an illegal immigrant is deported, how long before they can come back to the United States?

If an illegal immigrant has a deportation or removal order in their immigration file, it's possible that they won’t be allowed to enter the U.S. for five, ten, or even 20 years.

The applicable law comes from Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (I.N.A.).

Five-Year Ban: If they were summarily removed or deported upon arrival at a U.S. port of entry because they were found inadmissible, or if they came to the U.S. but were immediately put into removal proceedings and then removed or deported, they may be ineligible to return to the U.S. for five years. The five-year ban also applies if they failed to show up for their removal hearing in the United States.

Ten-Year Ban: If a ‘removal order’ was issued at the conclusion of their removal hearing in Immigration Court, they may not be able to return for ten years after their removal or departure.

Twenty-Year Ban: If they were convicted of an aggravated felony or have received more than one order of removal, they are barred from returning to the U.S. for 20 years. And if they entered without permission after having been removed, or illegally reentered the U.S. after having previously been in the U.S. unlawfully for more than one year, they may be barred from entering the United States for 20 years or permanently.

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This facility, known as "Etowah County Detention Facility" is also known as ICE Detention Facility, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.