Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar

Entrance of Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar

Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar is a military prison operated by the U.S. Navy at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in Miramar, San Diego, California, located just under 10 miles (16 km) north of Downtown San Diego. Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar is one of two Navy consolidated brigs and also serves as the Pacific area regional confinement facility for the United States Department of Defense.^[1] The 208,000-square-foot (19,300 m²) facility has a total capacity to house up to 400 male and/or female prisoners and is staffed with 31 civilian and 173 military personnel

The facility is in Building 7684, located across from the base golf course near the west gate.^[2] The brig is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the MCAS Miramar East Gate Entrance.^[3]

The facility houses some Tier II male prisoners of the United States Navy (who serve sentences of up to 10 years) and female prisoners from all areas of the United States Department of Defense. NAVCONBRIG Miramar Executive Officer CDR Kris Winter said that before NAVCONBRIG Miramar was designed as the place for all female prisoners, it was difficult for the U.S. military to have "successful female-specific rehabilitation programs" since there were not enough women in any one location. The consolidation of all women to NAVCONBRIG Miramar was intended to provide a female-oriented corrections program.^[4]

History

Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar (1995)

Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar was built in 1989 at a cost of nearly $17 million, was commissioned on July 19, 1989 and accepted its first prisoners on October 31, 1989.^{[citation needed]}

In March 1996, the United States Department of Justice entered into an agreement with the U.S. Navy and a private jail firm and began to use a section of the brig for illegal immigrants who had been deported for criminal convictions, mostly drug crimes, and had been re-arrested for re-entering the United States.^[5] The U.S. military allocated cell space to the U.S. Marshals Service so that agency could operate a civilian facility, the Miramar Federal Detention Facility, within the brig.^[6] The U.S. Department of Justice had begun to target illegal immigrants who had criminal records. As a result, jails in the San Diego area became overcrowded. Metropolitan Correctional Center, San Diego had been overcrowded for a long period of time leading up to 1996.^[5]

Within two weeks of the move,^[5] on March 29 of that year, prisoners rioted, setting fires inside their housing units.^[6] The prisoners were upset over a lack of commissary privileges, and a perceived low quality of television service, so they obscured a surveillance camera with a blanket and set fire to mattresses. The fire inflicted $500,000 worth of property damage. Of 174 prisoners involved, 12 were hospitalized. $1.5 million was spent to care for the injured prisoners. 10 Mexican citizens and one Costa Rican citizen received charges of damaging federal government property and conspiracy.^[5] The civilian prisoners were transferred to civilian facilities.^[6] During that year the Secretary of the United States Navy said that Miramar will never again be used to house illegal immigrants, the civilian population sent to Miramar. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a member of the United States House of Representatives who had opposed the housing of illegal immigrants in the facility, said that the move was a "victory for San Diegans" because putting illegal immigrants in the brig placed national security in danger. Illegal immigrants who would have been sent to Miramar instead were sent to jails in Imperial County, California, Kern County, California, and Arizona. As a result, the parties that handled the transportation received millions of dollars in transportation costs.^[5]

In 2003, NCBM became the only DOD prison to accept women.^[7]

As of 2010, the NCBM is adding an additional 98,000 square feet (9,100 m²) to the facility to accommodate an additional 200 prisoners before February 2011.^[8]

Mission statement

Construction of additional space at the Miramar Brig

To ensure administration, security, good order, discipline, and safety of prisoners and detained personnel from all military services; to retrain and restore maximum number of personnel to honorable service; to prepare remaining prisoners for return to civilian life as productive citizens.^[9]

Notable inmates

• Lynndie England, a perpetrator of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse^[10]
• Sabrina Harman, a perpetrator of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse^[11]
• Robin Long, the first member of the U.S. military to be deported from Canada (since the Vietnam war era) after having sought refuge there.^[12]

See also

	United States Navy portal
	San Diego County portal

• List of U.S. military prisons

References

1. ^ http://www.brigmiramar.navy.mil/bkground.htm
2. ^ "Miramar Brig Directions." Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar. Retrieved on May 25, 2010.
3. ^ "Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar." Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar. Retrieved on May 25, 2010.
4. ^ Powers, Rod. "Inside a Military Prison." About.com. 1. Retrieved on May 30, 2010.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e} Perry, Tony. "Navy Bans Use of Miramar Brig for Illegal Immigrants." Los Angeles Times. September 27, 1996. Retrieved on October 31, 2010. "Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-San Diego), who had led the opposition, called the announcement "a victory for San Diegans" over the Department of Justice. Putting illegal immigrants in the brig endangered national security, Cunningham said."
6. ^ ^{a b c} "After Guantánamo." Miami Herald. Retrieved on August 23, 2010.
7. ^ Fuentes, Gidget. "More beds are part of Miramar brig expansion." Navy Times. Monday March 22, 2010. Retrieved on July 19, 2010.
8. ^ Thomson, Elizabeth (MC1). "Navy Consolidated Brig Miramar Expands to Accept more Prisoners." Navy Compass. February 26, 2010. Retrieved on May 25, 2010.
9. ^ http://www.brigmiramar.navy.mil/mission.htm
10. ^ Beavers, Liz. "England back in Mineral County: Army reservist, notorious face of Abu Ghraib scandal, out of prison." Cumberland Times-News. "Friday, England family attorney Roy T. Hardy of Keyser confirmed England had been paroled March 1 after serving approximately half of her sentence at a military prison located near San Diego."
11. ^ Siegel, Andrea F. "Convicted reservist testifies." The Baltimore Sun. July 17, 2005. Retrieved on July 18, 2010.
12. ^ Perry, Tony. "Held at Miramar, deserter's cause taken up by activists." Los Angeles Times. January 14, 2009. Retrieved on August 23, 2010.

External links

• Official Website for Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar
  • Low Bandwidth
• Official Website for Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar (Archive)

Coordinates: 32°52′48″N 117°9′7″W / 32.88°N 117.15194°W / 32.88; -117.15194