Government reopens discredited private prisons to fill them with migrants detained by ICE

In 1931, the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, welcomed one of the most notorious prisoners of the era: Al Capone. The gangsters George “Machine Gun” Kelly and James Earl Ray, who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr., were other infamous inmates who did time behind bars there. Now, the city is involved in a lawsuit over the Midwest Regional Reception Center (MRRC), which is preparing to house a different type of inmate: migrants detained by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). MRRC is one of the private penitentiaries that, despite a history marked by complaints about the conditions in which it held prisoners, has reopened its doors to meet the needs of Donald Trump’s anti-immigration campaign. ICE has cited a “compelling urgency” to secure thousands of beds to deal with the mass detentions demanded by the Republican administration in its drive to carry out the largest deportation in U.S. history. The administration has 41,000 detention beds and aims to expand that number to at least 100,000, perhaps 150,000.

To this end, no-bid contracts have been signed with the largest private prison companies, CoreCivic, the operator of the Leavenworth facility and based in Tennessee, and GEO Group, based in Florida. The contracts have boosted the stock prices of the companies, which will receive millions of dollars from the deals. “Never in our 42-year company history have we had so much activity and demand for our services as we are seeing right now,” said Damon Hininger, CEO of CoreCivic, during a conference call with shareholders last month.

The reopening of previously inactive centers has raised the alarm among civil rights groups, who denounce the unsanitary conditions at these facilities and the history of abuse that plagues many of them.

“GEO Group and other private contractors are teeming over Trump’s continued expansion of ICE detention and particularly at the prospect of cashing in on their vacant prisons, like North Lake, that were recently forced to shutter,” said Setareh Ghandehari, advocacy director of Detention Watch Network, a national coalition fighting to abolish immigration detention in the U.S. Her remarks were made in March, following the reopening of the North Lake prison in Michigan, which had been closed since 2022 and began operating this week to house migrants. With a capacity to hold 1,800 people, it is expected to be one of the largest ICE detention centers in the country.

“This facility is an abomination and it’s been an insult to Michigan since the first stone was laid,” said Shelley Cichy, a member of the organization No Detention Centers in Michigan. “What the GEO Group cares about is making a profit. By reopening North Lake for ICE, this corporation is cashing in on Trump’s expansion of a cruel and inhumane detention system,” she added.

The Leavenworth prison is also linked to past complaints about the conditions in which inmates were held. Its reopening is pending the resolution of a dispute with the city, which requires it to obtain a special use permit. CoreCivic maintains that such a permit is not necessary, as it operated the facility from 1992 to 2021, when the Biden administration, which ended the use of private prisons, did not renew the contract.

In a statement to EL PAÍS, Ryan Gustin, director of external affairs for CoreCivic, noted that “in addition to the impact fees we agreed to pay, and the property tax we already pay, we have made an effort to listen and be transparent with the community. We have held open houses for local leaders and the media, and we have continued to propose solutions to city officials to move forward together.”

Leavenworth officials began their petition by citing a 2021 court transcript in which U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson called the prison an “absolute hell hole.”

“All that’s going on there and causing trauma to everybody – guards are being traumatized. Guards have been almost killed. Detainees are being traumatized with assaults and batteries, and not long ago a detainee was killed. So I’m well aware of the situation at CoreCivic and very troubled by it as well,” Robinson said at the time.

The city’s lawsuit described detainees being locked in showers as punishment. It said the facility’s sheets and towels clogged the sewage system and that CoreCivic hampered city police’s ability to investigate sexual assaults and other violent crimes that took place at its facilities.

“As with any difficult situation, we seek to learn from it. Staffing was the main factor contributing to the challenges, and the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated labor issues. We are grateful for a more stable labor market and have received positive feedback from job seekers interested in the positions the facility will create,” Gustin responded. CoreCivic anticipates creating 300 new jobs, offering a wage of $28.25 per hour.

Delaney Hall

One of the first detention centers opened to meet ICE’s needs was Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. The immigration agency signed a $1 billion contract with GEO Group to use its 1,000 beds for a 15-year period, thus quadrupling the state’s capacity to house detained migrants.

“This massive increase in detention capacity places the public in further danger of the Trump administration’s unconstitutional, racist, and xenophobic mass detention and deportation agenda,” said Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey. The center began accepting migrants in May and has sparked protests over lack of food, access to medical treatment, and other needs faced by inmates. Four inmates escaped from the facility last week, three of whom have since been returned.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested outside Delaney Hall last month and charged with trespassing after attempting to visit the facility, has questioned whether the building, which was converted to house detainees, is in violation of the proper occupancy permits. The Department of Homeland Security claims these accusations are false.

The construction of new migrant detention centers depends on the $45 billion budget that ICE has requested and is being debated in Congress. The Senate has not yet approved it, but that hasn’t stopped agents from increasing the number of raids and arrests of migrants.

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