A former private prison in Appleton, Minn., will reopen soon as a new federal immigration detention center.
CoreCivic, which owns the Prairie Correctional Facility, issued a news release Tuesday confirming that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded the company a five-year contract that begins Thursday.
The facility, which is located three hours west of the Twin Cities, will begin housing detainees by the end of this year.
Several Appleton residents have voiced opposition to the prison’s reopening as an immigration detention center, citing the deaths of detainees and unsanitary conditions at CoreCivic facilities in other states. Immigrant rights’ groups and Indivisible Twin Cities, a local advocacy group, began hosting weekly protests this month in Appleton to oppose the plan.
The announcement comes after the company made approximately $1 million in renovations to the facility starting last fall. The prison has been closed since 2010, but Appleton city officials and CoreCivic have discussed the possibility of reopening it for years. Rumors of CoreCivic repurposing the prison as an ICE detention center emerged last year when The Washington Post published an article revealing ICE’s plans to increase its number of detention centers.
The facility has up to 1,600 open beds, more than twice the city’s population.
According to CoreCivic’s news release: The detention center is estimated to generate approximately $75 million in revenue a year. The contract includes a fixed monthly payment and additional payment based on the number of detainees. The facility will ramp up operations throughout the year, and is expected to be fully operational by mid-2027.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
