City and county officials in Appleton, Minnesota, say they’re in ongoing talks with a company that owns a private prison that is rumored to potentially serve as a federal detention facility, but that there is no signed agreement.
The Washington Post reported last Friday that the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton is on a list of potential sites for President Donald Trump’s plan to increase the number of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities. The facility, Minnesota’s only privately owned prison, is owned by CoreCivic and has been closed since 2010.
Appleton City Administrator John Olinger and Swift County Commissioner Gary Hendrickx told Sahan Journal Wednesday that they’re in touch with CoreCivic. Olinger said he spoke with a company representative two weeks ago that “there is no contract with any entity,” and that the growing speculation are “just rumors.”
However, during Trump’s first term, CoreCivic submitted a proposal to ICE in 2019 to house detainees at the Prairie Correctional Facility, but it was never implemented, Appleton city officials said. Hendrickx said he met with CoreCivic representatives a few times in 2017 about reopening the prison as a federal immigration detention facility, but he isn’t sure why those conversations stalled.
“I’m hesitant at this point until I have more information or a contract in front of me that we can consider,” Hendrickx said of the facility’s future.
Olinger said city and county officials feel confident they’ll be notified if any contracts are signed to reopen the facility.
“We really don’t have much to say as a city about whether it opens or not,” Olinger said of the facility, noting that CoreCivic is a private entity separate from the city.
ICE has the capacity to hold nearly 50,000 detainees at existing facilities across the country, according to the Washington Post. About $45 billion in federal funding approved last month by Congress will be used to expand immigration detention facilities.
Three jails in Minnesota currently contract with ICE to hold detainees — the Sherburne, Freeborn and Kandiyohi county jails.
The state Legislature passed a law in 2023, authored by state Rep. Dan Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud, banning private companies from operating local prisons and jails. But if CoreCivic was granted a contract with ICE, it could reopen the Appleton prison because it would be housing federal detainees instead of state or local inmates.
Wolgamott issued a written statement criticizing privately run detention facilities regardless of which government is overseeing the detainees.
“In Minnesota, we recognize that our correctional system shouldn’t operate at the behest of private corporations that put profit over public welfare, as codified by the law I authored in 2023,” read Wolgamott’s statement. “State and local inmates are required to be housed in publicly owned and operated jails and prisons, and I strongly condemn any move by ICE or other organizations to go against state law.”
Appleton city officials said rumors started spreading among residents last November that the Prairie Correctional Facility would reopen.
CoreCivic is one of the country’s largest private prison owners, and has nearly 13,000 employees in more than 70 facilities. When reached for comment, Ryan Gustin, CoreCivic’s senior director of public affairs, emailed a statement response: “We stay in regular contact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and all our government partners to understand their changing needs, and we work within their established procurement processes.”
He declined to answer questions or confirm whether CoreCivic had signed a contract with ICE.
“Regarding our facility in Appleton, we continue to explore opportunities with our government partners for which this site could be a viable solution,” his statement said, adding that some staff work on site to maintain the facility.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not respond to requests seeking comment.
If the facility reopens, Olinger said, it would significantly affect the city and its residents. He said the facility has space for 1,600 inmates, while Appleton has a population of about 1,350 residents.
“This doubles the population in the city,” he said, adding that the city’s sewer system, housing inventory, medical clinics and water treatment plant would need to expand to accommodate the prison’s reopening.
When CoreCivic submitted a proposal to ICE in 2019, city officials said, Appleton residents were divided on the facility reopening as an immigration detention facility. Some residents raised concerns about the conditions and treatment of inmates, as well as possible negative rhetoric against immigrants in the community.
City officials said they understand the community’s mixed feelings in 2019, but noted that CoreCivic has the final say about the facility’s future.
“I definitely want individuals who are housed in there to be treated with dignity and respect,” Hendrickx said. “There’s going to be a lot of positive and negative feedback at the same time, and we’ll have to navigate those issues as they come up.”
