Miami-Dade County Jail is one of the largest jail systems in the United States, with an average of 4,000 inmates spread across its three main detention facilities. It’s known for its inhumane conditions and brutality, and 90 percent of the inmates have been charged with felony offenses, not just misdemeanors.The Pre-Trial Detention Center is where individuals are booked immediately after being arrested. They often remain there for a few hours or days before being released on bail or transferred to another section of the jail.The Metro West Detention Center is the largest and worst facility of them all. Home to more than 2,000 inmates, with crimes ranging from petty theft to murder, the male-only facility has had its fair share of controversies.Intake at the Pre-Trial Detention Center is fairly straightforward. You get a mug shot, fingerprints and a review of any previous arrests. Depending on your charge, a blood sample may be taken, and in most cases, a strip search will also be conducted.You then undergo a medical and mental health screening process before the jail decides where you’ll be placed. In most cases, you’ll be crammed in a cell with 15 other dangerous individuals, many guilty of murder, armed robbery or other serious crimes.Your bathroom is anything but private. It’s a toilet without a door, while your bed is a thin plastic mattress on a hard metal bunk. Your belongings sit on the ground below the bunks, and all you can do is hope they’re still there when you wake up.One inmate explained why he preferred the top bunk: he could see everything and keep his eyes on the people around him. On the bottom bunk, he said, you’re trapped.And if you think the guards will always come to your aid, you may want to think again. One inmate explained that if something happens, officers have to get through multiple gates before they can reach you.Surviving a place like this requires keeping your head down and avoiding anything that could make you a target. As one inmate put it, if you respect your neighbor, your neighbor respects you.But simply showing respect doesn’t always make for an easy sentence.Until its closure in 2014, the ninth floor of the Pre-Trial Detention Center housed inmates suffering from severe mental illnesses. Known as the “Forgotten Floor,” it became infamous for its horrific conditions and inadequate treatment.Inmates wore robes without sleeves and no shoes, while cells had no mattresses. In one instance, an inmate even resorted to drinking toilet water because there was no running water available.Over the course of just a few months in 2013, three inmates died while in custody on the ninth floor. One of them, Juaquin Cairo, died from internal bleeding after another inmate assaulted him, with his injuries not taken seriously by guards until it was too late.The ninth floor was eventually closed, and inmates were relocated to a cleaner facility at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. The new facility had 13 psychiatrists, yoga classes, better trained guards, cameras in every cell, safety beds and running water.But problems continued elsewhere in the jail system. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some Metro West cells reportedly held as many as 60 inmates, while overcrowding and a lack of sanitizer made social distancing nearly impossible.Miami-Dade has since made major improvements, including better medical care, suicide prevention and sanitation. In July 2025, federal oversight was finally lifted after years of reforms.Still, with thousands of inmates moving through the system every year, providing the support they need remains a difficult challenge.