Kansas Community Fights Private Prison

In Leavenworth, Kansas, a coalition of activists is organizing to prevent the reopening of the Leavenworth Detention Center, a for-profit prison. The world’s largest private prison operator, CoreCivic, wants to use the facility to inter immigrants (and sometimes American citizens) awaiting deportation. Before being shut down in 2021, the prison was described by the Missouri Independent as “an understaffed ‘hell hole’ of violence, death and drugs.” When stabbings, sexual assaults, and murders took place within its walls, local police were barred from investigating. It’s telling that in a town with five other prisons (and a new $500 million federal penitentary under construction), residents want to keep CoreCivic out. 

The coalition, which includes nuns, former inmates, and former prison guards, has found success. They sued to prevent the prison from opening, claiming that the prison failed to get necessary permits. That argument won them a temporary injunction from a Kansas state court, which is preventing the prison from reopening for the duration of the lawsuit. But the city has asked the court to formalize the injunction because “the federal government might apply pressure on CoreCivic to defy or look for loopholes in this Court’s orders.”

“Pressure” is not the word I would use to describe how the federal government is requesting private prison operators’ cooperation with mass deportations. Instead, the Trump administration has been much more carrot than stick. CoreCivic was set to be paid $23 million to house “residents” in Leavenworth for six months. And on a February call with investors, CoreCivic’s CEO described Trump’s second term as “one of the most exciting periods in my career,” adding that he expected “perhaps the most significant growth in our company’s history.” As long as the government remains committed to more than doubling the number of beds holding detained immigrants, millions more dollars will go to shady private prison operators. (The Marshall Project)

This story was adapted from the Current Affairs News Briefing. Subscribe today!