Private Mississippi prison announces new federal contract to house immigration detainees

Published 11:29 am Tuesday, September 3, 2019

A private prison operator announced Tuesday that it has a new contract with the county in which it resides and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to house immigrant detainees at its 2,232-bed facility in Mississippi.

The new contract covers the Adams County Correctional Center just east of Natchez.

CoreCivic (CXW) issued a written press release Tuesday morning regarding the new contract, which started Aug. 29, and has an initial term of five years.

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The contract, the company said, can be extended an unlimited number of times if each party agrees. The contract can be terminated with a 120-days’ notice.

The facility had already been housing approximately 600 ICE detainees under an amended contract with the Federal Bureau of Prison that was set to expire on Aug. 30.

The company said they expected the number of detainees to be housed at the facility to increase. The contract is said to generate approximately $50 million to $60 million in annualized revenue for CoreCivic.

“We continue to be uniquely positioned to assist our government partners at ICE, through our flexible real estate solutions and services, as they work to address critical national and international challenges,” said Damon Hininger, CoreCivic’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our sole job is to help government solve problems in ways it can’t do alone, and we have worked in this same capacity for ICE throughout our 35 year partnership.”