Alaska lawmakers probe conditions, contracts after ICE detainees moved to Anchorage Correctional Complex

The Alaska House Judiciary Committee held a June 20, 2025 fact-finding hearing in Anchorage to examine the state Department of Corrections' use of the Anchorage Correctional Complex to house Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees flown in from the Lower 48.

Committee Chair Representative Gray opened the hearing saying, "The topic of today's hearing is the status of immigration detainees in custody of the Department of Corrections through a contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement," and lawmakers questioned state officials, attorneys and civil-rights advocates about the circumstances that led to the transfers and the treatment of the detainees.

The National Detention Standards for Non‑Dedicated Facilities (2019), the DOC–ICE contract and state law framed much of the committee's inquiry. Jen Winkleman, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Corrections, told the panel the current DOC contract to hold federal detainees has been in place since 2013 and "is effective until it is terminated in writing." She said Alaska bills the federal government a daily bed-rate per person that covers on-site medical, security and indirect administrative costs.

Winkleman said Anchorage Correctional Complex (ACC) is the only Alaska DOC facility certified to house ICE detainees for more than 72 hours. She told lawmakers ICE approached ACC on June 4 asking how many people the facility could safely house; facility leadership determined a capacity figure and ICE moved detainees to Anchorage on June 8. The department asked ICE for names and medical abstracts before the transfers, Winkleman said, and received that information.

Committee members pressed the commissioner on notification, oversight and reimbursement. Winkleman confirmed the department did not provide advance public notice of the transfers and described legislative audit processes and standard statutory authority (AS 30.33.301) as the formal checks on such agreements. She said the per‑diem rate paid by the federal government was $223.07 a day and that rate is intended to cover direct and indirect costs of care.

Attorneys and an ACLU representative contested DOC descriptions of conditions and access. Sydney Woods, senior immigration law and policy fellow at the ACLU of Alaska, said from interviews and written complaints that detainees at ACC face cramped quarters, limited showers and restricted phone access. "These civil detainees at ACC are brothers, husbands, partners, and fathers who are simply waiting for an administrative body to decide their ability to stay in The United States," Woods said, and argued the settings described to her did not match ICE detention standards that seek to ensure humane, nonpunitive treatment.

Immigration attorneys who have met with detainees described difficulty learning where clients had been moved and interruptions to attorney‑client communications. Sean Quirk, an attorney who represents a detained client, told the committee his client was transferred without notice to counsel and that the law firm learned the new location only after checking ICE's online database; Quirk said his client reported conditions in Anchorage were "worse than Tacoma." Nicholas Alano, who has handled detention cases in Alaska for years, called ACC "designed for a criminal setting. It's not for a civil detention setting," and said the scale and logistics of holding several dozen civil detainees at once created strain.

Committee members and witnesses also discussed a June 12 incident at ACC that DOC described as a single use-of-force event in which oleoresin capsicum (OC) was deployed on the module floor to gain compliance during a disorderly demonstration. Commissioner Winkleman said OC was discharged to clear a space, not directed at an individual, and the department files routine incident reports; attorneys and advocates said multiple detainees reported respiratory distress afterward and at least one detainee was reportedly on oxygen during the event.

Witnesses told the committee other specific concerns: detainees arriving without personal property or legal papers; limits on attorney visits early in the transfer; reports that some phones in the module were not working and that detainees could make only limited free calls; alleged delays in provision of religious materials; and housing arrangements where three people share a cell and one person sleeps on a floor mattress. Winkleman said DOC had asked ICE to provide medical abstracts and medication lists and that, to the department's knowledge, transferred detainees had medications and received on‑site medical and mental‑health triage.

On legal access, committee members cited passages of the national guidance saying facilities should permit legal visitation and not restrict the number of calls to legal representatives. Quirk and others told lawmakers transfers commonly occur without counsel notification despite a rule that attorneys be informed of transfers; Quirk said that non‑notification has occurred in his cases. Winkleman said early coordination problems with scheduling attorney calls were being addressed and that an ICE agent had been present in the module to assist with logistics.

Lawmakers pressed whether DOC could have refused the transfers; Winkleman said the request came to the facility and that, in practice, state leadership made a capacity determination. She also told the committee she will follow up on specific allegations raised at the hearing, including a claim that one detainee lacked underwear for several days after the OC incident.

Attorneys and the ACLU warned of legal risk. Woods said she has received letters and calls from multiple detainees alleging conditions inconsistent with standards. Alano and other counsel told the committee litigation challenging conditions and access is a foreseeable risk, and witnesses noted potential fiscal exposure for the state if litigation succeeds.

The committee did not take formal votes; members said the hearing was intended to gather facts and press state and federal actors for better coordination and transparency. Representative Meares and other lawmakers urged follow‑up inspections and for DOC to facilitate visits by legislators and accredited attorneys. Winkleman said she would provide the committee with the contract copy and pursue follow‑up on the specific complaints raised at the hearing.

The panel heard repeated requests from counsel and advocates that ACC be reviewed against the applicable national detention standards and that attorneys be notified promptly of transfers. Lawmakers signaled intent to use legislative audit and oversight channels to obtain records and monitor DOC follow‑up.