Nevada Southern Detention is for Private Facility offenders have not been sentenced yet and are detained here until their case is heard.
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If you are unsure of your inmate's location, you can search and locate your inmate by typing in their last name, first name or first initial, and/or the offender ID number to get their accurate information immediately Registered Offenders
Located in Pahrump, NV, Nevada Southern Detention operates as a private contractor with various government agency agreements providing state-minimum custody requirements. Programs are offered to all custody levels, including work release residents focused on reentry success. With a strong emphasis on rehabilitation, Nevada Southern Detention provides comprehensive educational and vocational opportunities. Onsite amenities include dietary, health, fitness, educational, religious, and recreational services. Regular inspections ensure compliance with government standards, ensuring the facility's continued operation.
The Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, Nevada, operates as one of the largest immigration detention facilities in the western United States and houses ICE detainees under contract with the Department of Homeland Security. The facility is managed by the private prison corporation CoreCivic rather than a county sheriff’s office, making it a privately operated federal detention complex focused heavily on immigration enforcement operations. Located in rural Nye County about 60 miles west of Las Vegas, the detention center has become a major component of DHS immigration detention infrastructure throughout the Southwest. Because it sits near major transportation corridors and Las Vegas-area immigration court systems, the facility routinely receives detainees transferred from Nevada, California, Arizona, and other western states.
The detention center can hold more than 1,060 detainees and inmates overall, though its contracted ICE detention capacity has historically been set at 250 detainees per day before periodic federal overflow expansions increased populations far beyond that level. Federal detention data from 2025 showed ICE populations at the facility frequently exceeding 450 detainees during major immigration enforcement surges. In addition to ICE detainees, the facility has also housed inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service and other federal agencies under separate contracts. ICE detainees held at the Nevada Southern Detention Center are generally awaiting deportation proceedings, asylum hearings, immigration bond decisions, or transfer to other federal detention sites nationwide.
One of the most distinctive aspects of the Nevada Southern Detention Center is its isolated desert location in Pahrump, a fast-growing but still remote Nevada community surrounded by mountains and open desert terrain. Immigration attorneys and advocacy groups have repeatedly criticized the facility’s distance from Las Vegas legal services and transportation networks, arguing that detainees often face difficulty securing legal representation and maintaining family contact. The detention center has also become a frequent target of oversight visits and political scrutiny due to concerns involving overcrowding, detainee medical care, use-of-force incidents, and detention conditions during periods of rapid ICE expansion. Congressional oversight visits to the facility intensified during 2025 and 2026 as detainee populations climbed sharply.
ICE Detainee Information
This facility holds immigration detainees under an active contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in addition to its regular population. ICE detainees are civil immigration detainees, not criminal defendants, and are held while their immigration cases are processed. The rules, rights, and services that apply to ICE detainees differ from those that apply to the general jail population.
To locate an ICE detainee at this facility, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator at locator.ice.gov. You will need the detainee's A-Number, a nine-digit Alien Registration Number that appears on any immigration document they have received. If the A-Number has fewer than nine digits, add zeros at the beginning. If you do not have the A-Number, you can search using the detainee's full legal name, country of birth, and date of birth. Names must be an exact match; try variations if the first search returns no results.
Immigration bond works differently from criminal bail. Not all detainees are eligible for bond; those with certain criminal convictions or prior deportation orders may be subject to mandatory detention. For those who are eligible, bond is set by an immigration judge and typically ranges from $1,500 to over $10,000. Bond must be paid in full before release. An immigration attorney can request a bond hearing and argue for a lower amount based on the detainee's circumstances.
Unlike criminal defendants, ICE detainees do not have the right to a government-appointed attorney. They must hire a private immigration attorney or find free legal help through a nonprofit organization. RAICES provides legal services and bond assistance at raicestexas.org. The National Immigrant Justice Center offers free legal representation at immigrantjustice.org. Many immigration courts also maintain a list of free and low-cost legal service providers available to detainees upon request.
ICE transfers detainees between facilities frequently and with little advance notice, sometimes to locations far from family and legal counsel. If you cannot locate your family member through this page, search the ICE Online Detainee Locator again at locator.ice.gov with their A-Number. If they have an attorney, notify the attorney immediately as transfers affect court appearances and case timelines.
Operationally, the Nevada Southern Detention Center functions as a secure federal detention environment with extensive intake and transportation responsibilities. Staff members coordinate detainee classification, medical screening, attorney visitation, commissary operations, transportation logistics, immigration paperwork processing, and compliance with ICE detention standards. The facility works directly with the Las Vegas ICE Field Office and nearby immigration court systems handling detainee proceedings throughout Nevada. Because of its large bed space and existing federal infrastructure, the detention center became one of several CoreCivic-operated facilities expanded under recent DHS immigration detention growth initiatives.
Today, the Nevada Southern Detention Center remains one of the most operationally significant ICE detention facilities in the western United States. Its large detention footprint, desert location, private management structure, and rapidly expanding detainee population have made it a central part of ongoing national debates surrounding immigration detention policy and federal detention oversight. While critics continue raising concerns over conditions and detainee treatment, DHS and CoreCivic officials maintain that the facility remains an important component of the federal government’s growing immigration enforcement and detention network throughout the Southwest.