It’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Apparently, private prison company CoreCivic never got the memo.
Earlier this year, CoreCivic announced plans to re-open its shuttered Leavenworth jail as an immigration detention facility.
Until it was shut down in 2021, Leavenworth Detention Center was plagued by violence, abuse, and mismanagement.
In 2021 alone, attorneys reported two suicides and at least 10 severe beatings and stabbings of incarcerated individuals and employees alike. Correctional officer vacancies reached as high as 23%, while incarcerated individuals frequently reported insufficient food, medical care and access to legal counsel. Other reports of serious harm remain hidden due to the lack of transparency in CoreCivic’s facilities.
A U.S. district court judge summarized it best: The prison was “an absolute hellhole.”
CoreCivic’s plan to re-open this notorious facility and target immigrants has been met with public outcry.
Pushback was so significant that CoreCivic applied, then withdrew from Leavenworth’s special use permit application process and the required public hearings.
The city swiftly passed a unanimous resolution requiring CoreCivic go through the permit approval process and has now filed a federal lawsuit. The rush to staff the facility is a slap in the face to the community by one of the largest companies profiting off of human suffering.
CoreCivic campaigns on promises of “compassionate” detention and “good, dependable jobs.” But Leavenworth residents and previously detained individuals have seen through the PR spin.
At a recent city commission meeting, a former employee tearfully recounted being attacked at the understaffed Leavenworth Detention Center — which left her permanently disabled. Immigrants like Angel Argueta, who came to the U.S. after a hurricane destroyed his home and livelihood, know there is no compassion to be found in CoreCivic ICE facilities. At a Mississippi ICE center, Angel was left in a dark, solitary cell for days on end and told by guards that “the only way you leave this facility is if you die here.”
CoreCivic’s failures aren’t limited to Leavenworth. It operates criminal and immigration facilities across the country, many of which have long, sordid records of abuse and mismanagement.
As attorneys and advocates, we have witnessed the devastating human cost of CoreCivic’s operations — whether it’s the 24-hour-a-day solitary confinement and rampant physical and sexual abuse suffered by those trapped inside, or the anxiety and stress endured by small-town workers left to manage the fallout.
The company wins over local leaders in towns like Leavenworth with enticing promises of profit, but those dollars rarely materialize. While localities deal with understaffing and horrific prison conditions, CoreCivic’s CEO made close to $6 million in 2023 — 96 times its median employee’s pay.
CoreCivic has repeatedly shown that it is incapable of running a humane facility. Now, the company flouts city approval to move forward with an ICE center based on false promises.
CoreCivic officials have pledged not to “release any inmates or detainees into the Leavenworth community.” That statement is not only morally reprehensible, as the majority of immigrants detained by ICE are not dangerous and have no history of violent crime — it’s also legally unenforceable.
CoreCivic can’t promise to ignore court orders and basic due process by continuing to hold immigrants who have been granted release or legal status in the United States.
