Officials in a rural Tennessee town voted Tuesday to turn a former prison into an immigration detention facility operated by a private company, despite loud objections from upset residents and activists during a contentious public meeting. The decision will turn the closed West Tennessee Detention Facility into a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center run by CoreCivic Inc., reports the AP. Present were a few dozen vocal, angry members of the public who oppose allowing ICE to house immigrants in Mason who have been taken into custody as President Trump pushes for mass deportations.
CoreCivic will resume operating the facility, which was closed in 2021 after President Biden ordered the Department of Justice to stop renewing contracts with private detention facilities. Trump reversed that order in January. A second vote approved an agreement with ICE. Mayor Eddie Noeman said he wanted to reopen the shuttered prison to bring jobs and economic development to the town of about 1,300, which has struggled. When it was open, the prison was the town's largest employer and an important economic engine.
Noeman, an Egyptian-American immigrant and a longtime business owner in the town, called turning the closed prison over to CoreCivic and ICE a "win-win situation," which led to a cascade of loud boos. At times, Noeman argued with attendees, questioning whether they actually live in Mason and telling them "you don't know what you're talking about." Board member Virginia Rivers told the AP that she doesn't support turning the prison into an ICE facility because "I don't like what ICE stands for, how they treat the people." She said approving the contracts would make Mason "complicit in the abusive treatment of immigrants." Some members of the public who spoke said Mason is a majority-Black town with a history of being treated with disrespect.
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CoreCivic said the ICE facility would create nearly 240 new jobs, and is advertising openings for detention officers at $26.50 per hour. The facility would also generate about $325,000 in annual property tax revenue and $200,000 for Mason, the company said. Tennessee's corrections agency has fined CoreCivic $44.7 million across four prisons from 2022 through February, including for understaffing violations. Records also show the company has spent more than $4.4 million to settle about 80 lawsuits and out-of-court complaints alleging mistreatment—including at least 22 inmate deaths—at four Tennessee prisons and two jails from 2016 through September 2024.