Tiefer, who served on an independent commission established to study government contracting for the Iraq & Afghanistan wars, said #ICE is “placing a very dicey long-term bet” because of its past problems & said ICE is giving #CoreCivic “the keys to the #treasury” without competition.

#GeoGroup’s former lobbyist #PamBondi is now the US AG. It anticipates that all of its idle #prisons will be activated this year, its executive chair, George Zoley, told shareholders.

#CoreCivic, which along w/Geo donated millions of dollars to #GOP candidates at all levels of government & national political groups, is equally optimistic. It began daily talks w/the #Trump admin immediately after the election….

…#PrivatePrison executives are forecasting hundreds of millions of dollars in new #ICE #profits. Since #Trump’s reelection in Nov, #CoreCivic’s #stock has risen in price by 56% & #GeoGroup’s by 73%.

“It’s the gold rush,” Michael A. Hallett, a professor of criminal #justice at the University of North Florida who studies #PrivatePrisons. “All of a sudden, demand is spiraling. And when you’re the only provider that can meet demand, you can pretty much set your terms.”

The city’s lawsuit described detainees locked in showers as punishment. It said that sheets & towels from the facility clogged up the #wastewater system & that #CoreCivic impeded the #city #police force’s ability to investigate #SexualAssault & other #violent #crimes.

The facility had no inmates when CoreCivic gave reporters a tour earlier this year, & it looked scrubbed top to bottom & the smell of disinfectant hung in the air.

When #Leavenworth sued #CoreCivic, it opened its lawsuit with a quote from U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson — an appointee of President George W. Bush, a #Republican — who said of the #prison: “The only way I could describe it frankly, what’s going on at CoreCivic right now is it’s an absolute hell hole.”

Vacancies among correctional officers were as high as 23%, according to a #DOJ report from 2017.

“It was just mayhem,” recalled William Rogers, who worked as a guard at the #CoreCivic facility in #Leavenworth from 2016 through 2020. He said repeated assaults sent him to the emergency room three times, including once after a blow to the head that required 14 staples.

#Leavenworth sued the #CoreCivic to force it to get one, & a state-court judge issued an order requiring it earlier this month.

An attorney for the city, Joe Hatley, said the #legal fight indicates how much ill will CoreCivic generated when it held #criminal suspects there for trials in federal court for the #USMarshals Service.

The #Leavenworth area’s #politics might have been expected to help #CoreCivic. #Trump carried its county by more than 20 percentage points in each of his 3 campaigns for president.

But skeptical #city officials argue that CoreCivic needs a special use permit to reopen its facility. CoreCivic disagrees, saying that it doesn’t because it never abandoned the facility & that the permitting process would take too long.

…#CoreCivic’s #Leavenworth facility quickly became a priority for #ICE & the company because of its central location. Leavenworth, w/ 37,000 residents, is only 10 miles (16 kilometers) to the west of the #KansasCity International Airport. The facility would hold #men & #women & is within ICE’s area of operations for the #Democratic #SanctuaryCity #Chicago, 420 miles (676 kilometers) to the northeast.

But the #Trump admin wants to more than double the existing 41k beds for detaining #immigrants to at least 100k beds & — if #PrivatePrison executives’ predictions are accurate — possibly to >150k.

#ICE declared a national *emergency* on the US border w/ #Mexico as part of its justification for authorizing nine 5-year contracts for a combined 10,312 beds without “Full & Open Competition.”

A tax-cutting and budget reconciliation measure approved last month by the #House includes $45 Billion over 4 years for #immigrant #detention, a threefold spending increase. The #Senate is now considering that #legislation.

When #Trump started his 2nd term in Jan, #CoreCivic & #GeoGroup had around 20 idle facilities, partly because of sentencing #reforms that reduced #prison populations.

Just last week , #GeoGroup announced tha #ICE modified a contract for an existing #detention center in southeastern #Georgia so that the company could reopen an idle prison on adjacent land to hold 1,868 #immigrants — & earn $66 million in annual revenue.

“Never in our 42-year company history have we had so much activity & demand for our services as we are seeing right now,” said #CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger during an earnings call last month with shareholders.

To get more #detention beds, the #Trump admin has modified dozens of existing agreements with contractors & used no-bid contracts. One pays $73 million to a company led by former federal #immigration officials for “immigration enforcement support teams” to handle administrative tasks, such as helping coordinate removals, triaging complaints or telling #ICE if someone is a risk to community safety.

Now #Kansas’ oldest city could soon be detaining far less famous people, migrants swept up in #Trump’s promise of #MassDeportations of those living in the US [some] illegally.

The federal govt has signed a deal w/ the #PrivatePrison firm #CoreCivic Corp. to reopen a 1,033-bed #prison in #Leavenworth as part of a surge of contracts #ICE has issued without seeking competitive bids.

In Feb, #ICE entered into a $1B contract w/ #GEOGroup, one of the country’s largest #PrivatePrison companies, to convert the building into a detention center. But Mayor #RasBaraka, who is running for governor of #NJ, galvanized opposition against the detention center, arguing that it had opened w/o the proper permits or inspections.

The controversy engulfing the facility drew the attention of the NJ lawmakers, who visited the facility on May 9 to inspect conditions.