Trump ‘Chickens Out’ After Brutal Prison Camp Named in His Honor Backfires

Donald Trump is scrambling to avoid political fallout after a notorious Louisiana prison camp—once shut down for suicides, abuse, and mass staff resignations—was briefly branded in his honor before being hastily renamed.

The Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana, a sprawling 18,000-acre facility infamous for its violent history, was preparing to reopen a four-block disciplinary unit for ICE detainees. Photos captured last week by WAFB showed a fresh sign reading “Camp 47,” a nod to Trump as the 47th U.S. president.

But just days later, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem unveiled the facility under a new name: “Camp 57”—a pivot widely seen as a political damage-control move to avoid associating Trump with the prison’s dark past.

“Let’s be clear,” said Mercedes Montagnes of the Promise of Justice Initiative. “This isn’t just a detention unit. It’s a dungeon. People died here. It should never have been reopened, let alone named after a sitting president.”

The prison’s “Camp J” unit, now repurposed as Camp 57, was shut down in 2018 after reports of horrific conditions surfaced:

• Multiple inmate suicides, including two men who hanged themselves on the same day in April 2016.
• Malfunctioning locks that sometimes opened by themselves.
• Rampant weapons smuggling and violence.
• 85 guards resigning, retiring, or being terminated in a single year due to “intolerable working conditions.”

Prison watchdogs warned for years that Camp J’s environment “bordered on torture.” Lawsuits from former inmates alleged systematic abuse and denial of mental health care, some describing the conditions as “medieval.”

The reopened unit is part of the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on immigration in his second term. ICE confirmed that at least 51 detainees were already transferred into the facility on its opening day, with capacity expected to expand to 416 beds.

“This is for the worst of the worst,” Noem said at Wednesday’s press conference, flanked by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

But civil rights advocates disagree. “This is about optics, not safety,” said immigration attorney Daniel Ortiz. “The administration is turning former slave plantations into migrant prisons. That’s not law and order. That’s cruelty.”

The Trump White House has yet to respond to questions about why the prison was initially branded in his honor and why the administration reversed course. Behind closed doors, aides are reportedly concerned that linking Trump’s name to a facility with a history of suicides, brutality, and slave-labor accusations could alienate suburban moderates ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Governor Landry, meanwhile, leaned into the prison’s intimidating reputation during the media tour: “With swamps full of alligators and forests full of bears, let’s just say people don’t tend to wander off,” he joked, drawing outrage online.

Immigrant rights groups are already mobilizing protests outside Angola and similar Trump-era facilities, including Florida’s now-closing “Alligator Alcatraz” and Indiana’s “Speedway Slammer.”

“Donald Trump built his political brand on fear,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in a statement Thursday. “But this—naming a torture chamber after yourself—crossed a line, even for him.”

While DHS insists the reopened unit has been “fully repaired” and is “segregated from other inmates,” watchdog groups aren’t convinced. The ACLU announced plans to file an emergency injunction to halt transfers into Camp 57, calling it “a humanitarian disaster waiting to happen.”

With the White House silent, critics say this episode underscores a deeper truth about Trump’s second term: his immigration policies are harsher, more secretive, and increasingly out of step with public opinion.