Takeaways from AP’s reporting on shuttered prisons, mass deportation push and no-bid contracts
Private prison operators are marketing their shuttered lockups to federal immigration officials as President Donald Trump pushes for mass deportations, with some facilities nabbing lucrative no-bid contracts. When the Republican took office, politically connected private-prison giants CoreCivic Inc., of Tennessee, and The Geo Group Inc., of Florida, had around 20 idle facilities. CoreCivic says it hasn’t seen such demand for its services in its 42-year history. But the push to reopen facilities has encountered resistance in unexpected places like Leavenworth, Kansas, whose name evokes a short hand for serving hard time. The Leavenworth facility was mothballed in 2021 after Democratic President Joe Biden called on the Justice Department to curb the use of private prisons.
