CoreCivic, one of the largest private prison companies in the U.S., is prioritizing two dormant facilities in Burlington and Walsenburg for possible expansion of its detention contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
CoreCivic already contracts with ICE to manage detention facilities in multiple states. In a May 8th conference call with investors, CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger said the company is examining nine of its currently unused facilities around the country to see which would fit ICE goals of detaining up to 100,000 immigrants in detention at a time.
Hininger said facilities in Tennessee and Oklahoma would be their top choices for immediate expansion, “and then, finally I would just say the capacity we’ve got in Colorado.”
The company’s Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington and Huerfano County Correctional Center in Walsenburg have both been mothballed since the 2010s. The closure of the facilities were an economic blow to both rural locations. Huerfano County, in particular, has among the highest unemployment rates in the state.
“I think having beds out west that are not all the way over to the coast in California where they could service the needs of Salt Lake and Denver and even some of the needs out of Wyoming and Montana makes our Kit Carson and our Huerfano facilities very attractive to ICE,” Hininger told investors.
The state currently has one ICE detention facility, the Aurora ICE Processing Center. The center has become a Colorado focal point for protests against the Trump Administration's immigration policies. The Aurora facility is managed by a different private prison company, the Geo Group Inc.
CoreCivic leadership said funding for additional ICE detention facilities is expected in the congressional budget reconciliation bill currently making its way through the Senate. However, ICE has also been using months-long “letter contracts” to fund operations in the short term.
“I don't think reconciliation has to get done for them to engage on us again,” Hininger said. “I wouldn't be surprised they call us tomorrow and say, ‘hey, we're ready to do a letter contract.’”
The World Journal newspaper reports Walsenburg city employees have been sweeping the Huerfano County Correctional Center’s parking lot and checking utility lines, with a goal to be ready to re-open within 100 days.
In 2023, Colorado joined a list of states banning the state or local governments from entering into ICE contracts for public jails or prisons, but the legislation does not include privately owned and operated facilities.
