LOCALIZE IT: Shuttered private prisons reopen amid mass deportation push. How to cover the effects
By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
Associated Press
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:
Private prisons operators are marketing their shuttered lockups to federal immigration officials as President Donald Trump pushes for mass deportations, with some facilities nabbing lucrative no-bid contracts.
When Trump took office, politically connected private-prison giants CoreCivic and Geo had around 20 idle facilities, partially the result of sentencing reforms that reduced prison populations. Former President Joe Biden also called on the U.S. Department of Justice to curb the use of private prisons.
But now the Trump administration wants to increase the existing 41,000 beds for detaining migrants to at least 100,000 beds and maybe — if private prison executives’ predictions are accurate — more than 150,000.
Some idle prisons already have reopened, and private prison executives anticipate that many of the rest eventually will house immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The companies stocks are soaring as a result.
Local versions of this story are possible across the country, particularly in the states that are home to private prisons. We gathered and analyzed information on where there prisons are located based on information provided by Geo and CoreCivic and analyzed contracts. See the data below, along with publishable lines for key states and locales you can plug into your stories.
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READ AP’S STORY
ICE is using no-bid contracts, boosting big firms, to get more detention beds
Takeaways from AP’s reporting on shuttered prisons, mass deportation push and no-bid contracts
Digital Ready Video: ICE using non-bid contracts and boosting private companies to get more beds for detaining migrants
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FIND YOUR STATE: IDLE PRIVATE PRISONS
Here are details about 13 states with idle private prisons and one state — New Mexico — with a prison that is being emptied and marketed to ICE. CoreCivic and Geo executives both discussed the status of negotiations on their latest earnings calls last month. Geo CEO David Donahue provided fewer details about specific facilities than CoreCivic. Instead, he said broadly that Geo has around 6,500 beds at idle facilities, which hadn’t received contracts yet. Donahue said they are currently talking to ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service about all of them.
CALIFORNIA
— The CoreCivic-owned California City Correctional Center in California City, California, has 2,560 beds. CoreCivic officials said on the earnings call that the company had reached a so-called short-term letter contract on April 1 designed to help it begin taking steps to reopen the facility while it negotiates a longer-term deal.
— The Geo-owned McFarland Female Community Reentry Facility in McFarland, California, has 300 beds.
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COLORADO
— The CoreCivic-owned Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, Colorado, has 1,488 beds and its Huerfano County Correctional Center in Walsenburg, Colorado, has 752 beds. CEO Damon T. Hininger, highlighted the company’s capacity in the state on the earnings call, saying, “I think having beds out west that are not all the way over to the coast of California, where they can service the needs of Salt Lake and Denver and even some of the needs out of Wyoming and Montana, makes our Kit Carson and our work facility very attractive to ICE.”
— The Geo-owned Cheyenne Mountain Reentry Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has 700 beds.
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GEORGIA
— The Geo-owned D. Ray James in Folkston, Georgia, which has 1,868 beds, is reopening, the company announced in a news release this month. It neighbors the 1,118-bed Folkston ICE Processing Center. Combined, they will be the nation’s largest ICE detention facility. The deal initially hit a road bump when it was flagged for review by DOGE, The Washington Post reported. But Geo announced a few days later that it was reopening D. Ray James as part of a contract modification with the Folkston ICE Processing Center.
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KANSAS
— The CoreCivic-owned Midwest Reception Center in Leavenworth, Kansas, has 1,033 beds. A CoreCivic executive said on the first quarter earnings call in May that that it reached a so-called short-term letter contract on March 7 designed to help it begin taking steps to reopen the facility while it negotiates a longer-term deal. But the city of Leavenworth sued, and a judge agreed that CoreCivic needs to get a permit first.
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KENTUCKY
— The CoreCivic-owned Marion Adjustment Center in St. Mary, Kentucky, has 826 beds. Hininger, CoreCivic’s CEO, said the company has beds in the state “that are maybe a little lower on the list” for ICE.
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MICHIGAN
— The Geo-owned Northlake Correctional in Baldwin, Michigan, has 1,800 beds. Donahue, Geo’s CEO, said on the earnings call that it has a short-term letter contract with ICE for the phased activation of the facility. He said the company also was negotiating a multi-year contract, with activation in the third quarter of 2025. He said the company anticipates it will generate $70 million in annualized revenues.
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MINNESOTA
— The CoreCivic-owned Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minnesota, has a capacity of 1,600. Hininger, CoreCivic’s CEO, said on the earnings call that it could be “a good solution” if there is activity on the northern border. “That would be a great location,” he added.
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NEW JERSEY
— The Geo-owned Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, with 1,054 beds, reopened in May as an ICE detention facility. Geo reached a $1 billion, 15-year deal for the detention center.
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NEW MEXICO
— The 1,200-bed Geo-owned Lea County Correctional Facility in Lea County, New Mexico, isn’t idle. But Donahue, Geo’s CEO, said that the company is working with the New Mexico Corrections Department to depopulate it, and is marketing it to ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service.
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NORTH CAROINA
— The Geo-owned Rivers Correctional Facility in Winston, North Carolina, has 1,320 beds. Donahue, Geo’s CEO, said the Marshals Service has issued a type of pre-solicitation notice to contract for additional bed space in Texas and North Carolina, where, he noted, “we currently have available idle facilities.” Such notices are designed to gauge interest before a formal bid is announced.
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OKLAHOMA
— The CoreCivic-owned Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, Oklahoma, has 2,160 beds and its North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Oklahoma, has 2,400 beds. Hininger, CoreCivic’s CEO, said on the earnings call that they are attractive because of the state’s central location, proximity to Interstate 40 and because Oklahoma City is a big air hub for ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service. “So checks a lot of boxes with those two facilities,” he said.
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PENNSYLVANIA
— The Geo-owned Coleman Hall in Philadelphia, which has a capacity of 350, and its Philadelphia Residential, which has a capacity of 400, are both described by the company as “non-secure reentry facilities.”
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TENNESSEE
— The CoreCivic-owned West Tennessee Detention Facility in Mason, Tennessee, has 600 beds. Hininger, CoreCivic’s CEO, said on the earnings call that ICE would find it attractive because of its proximity to Memphis and because Interstate 40 goes through the city.
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TEXAS
— The 2,400-bed Dilley Immigration Processing Center, formerly the South Texas Family Residential Center, has reopened as an ICE detention facility. It is owned by Target Hospitality and managed by CoreCivic.
— The Geo-owned Big Spring Correctional Facility in Big Spring, Texas, has 924 beds and its Flightline Correctional Facility in Flightline, Texas, has 1,452 beds. Geo also has a capacity of 139 at its Hector Garza Center in San Antonio, which it describes as among its “non-secure reentry facilities.” Donahue, Geo’s CEO, said on the earnings call the Marshals Service has issued pre-solicitation notices to contract for additional bed space in Texas and North Carolina, where, he noted, “we currently have available idle facilities.”
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WHERE TO FIND THE DATA
Look up U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s contracts here: https://www.ice.gov/foia/library. Details are available if you select Detention Facility Contracts from the drop-down menu.
Look up the status of CoreCivic’s facilities here: https://ir.corecivic.com/static-files/0bad9c50-9bd8-46e0-9e7b-d1836ffab52a
Look up the status of Geo’s facilities here: https://investors.geogroup.com/static-files/93bfef04-3b6d-42fd-8257-ea71206a985a
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CONSIDER THESE REPORTING THREADS
— What are the status of efforts to reopen the idle prison in your state? Talk to community leaders about what they are hearing. Are city officials eager because of the prospect of added tax revenue or are they raising concerns?
— Explore what happened before the private prison was idled. Did it close because sentencing reforms reduced prison populations? Were there past issues with violence at the facility?
— For facilities that are reopening, is that leading to increased immigration arrests in the immediate area? What has been the community’s response? Are they remaining supportive because the prison brought jobs to the region? Or are immigration advocates organizing protests?
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READ ADDITIONAL AP COVERAGE ON PRIVATE PRISONS
US seeks to turn deportations into an efficient business ‘like Amazon’
Surveillance tech advances by Biden could aid in Trump’s promised crackdown on immigration
Los Angeles protests follow weeks of intensifying immigration enforcement
Immigration official defends tactics against criticism of a heavy hand as arrests rise nationwide
House GOP wants to pump billions into Trump’s deportations and detentions as part of tax bill
How the public’s shift on immigration paved the way for Trump’s crackdown
From classifying immigrants as dead to deportation: A guide to actions on Trump immigration policies
While signing Laken Riley Act, Trump says he’ll send ‘worst criminal aliens’ to Guantanamo
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Localize It is a resource produced regularly by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to the Local News Success team at localizeit@ap.org.
