Long before it became an ICE detention center, the Miami Correctional Facility was constantly beset by violence fueled largely by gangs and drugs.

Potentially volatile cellmates are a fact of life in California prisons. That may change as the state's incarcerated population declines, freeing up space for single-person quarters.

For three decades, the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center was moored to the banks of Hunts Point, serving as an overflow facility for Rikers Island.