Tennessee town approves deals to turn closed prison into immigration detention facility

Mason, tenn. – The officials of a rural city in Tennessee voted on Tuesday to approve agreements to transform a former state prison into an immigration detention center operated by a private enterprise, despite strong objections of residents and activists upset at a controversial public meeting.

The board of directors of five members of Mason, as well as the mayor Eddie Noeman and the mayor of the vice-mayor Reynaldo Givhan, met in a garage of fire station to discuss the conversion of the closed detention center of Tennessee West to a center of detention in American immigration and customs led by Corecivic Inc.

There were also a few dozen vocal members and angry with the public who opposed it to authorize it ice to host Mason immigrants who were placed in police custody while President Donald Trump pushes mass deportations. Trump praised a detention center in Florida where allegations of abuse of prisoners have pulled prosecution against civil rights defenders and environmental groups.

The first vote of the meeting resulted in the approval of a contract with Corecivic to resume the operation of the installation, which was closed in 2021 after President Joe Biden ordered the Ministry of Justice to cease to renew contracts with privamy detention establishments. Trump reversed this order in January. The second vote, to approve an agreement with ICE, also adopted.

It is not immediately known when the installation will reopen.

Noeman said he wanted to reopen the prison closed to provide jobs and economic development to the city, which has had financial problems and needs infrastructure improvements. With a population of around 1,300 inhabitants, Mason is located around 40 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Memphis. When open, prison was the largest employer in the city and an important economic engine.

Noeman, an American Egyptian immigrant and a long-standing business owner in the city, called Turning the Closed Prison to Corecivic and Ice a “win-win situation”, which led to a cascade of noisy hoots.

“It’s nothing personal with an immigrant,” said Noeman, adding a few moments later that “giving people to people is what I’m looking for”.

Sometimes Noeman argued with the participants, wondering if they really live in Mason and saying to them “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Before the meeting, Virginia Rivers, a member of the board of directors, told the Associated Press that she did not support the transformation of the prison into an ice installation because “I don’t like what ice represents, how they treat people.”

During the meeting, she noted that some immigrants without a criminal record were swept by immigration agents and separated from their family. She said that contract approval would make Mason “accomplice of the abusive treatment of immigrants”.

“As officials of the city of Mason, elected by citizens, we should consider the consequences and the injury that this would cause our local community, our neighbors, the schools of Tennessee and many families,” said Rivers.

Corecivic said in a press release that the ICE installation would create nearly 240 new jobs, and that it is currently publishing openings for detention agents at a remuneration rate of $ 26.50 per hour. The installation would also generate around $ 325,000 in annual land tax revenue and $ 200,000 for Mason that could be used for schools, infrastructure improvements and other projects, the company said.

“The services we provide help the government to solve problems so as not to do alone – to help create safer communities by helping current immigration challenges, considerably improving the norm of care for vulnerable people and meeting other effectively and innovative critical needs,” said Corecivic.

In 2022, Mason concluded an agreement with the state of Tennessee after trying to resume the finances of the city after years of mismanagement. Some members of the public who spoke at the meeting said that Mason is a mainly black city with a story of being ignored and treated with disrespect.

One of the speakers, Charles Watkins, noted that Corecivic was the operator of the prison under his previous name, Corporation of America corrections.

“How is it that we can regularly let these organizations enter the black communities, then overwhelm us in a way with the few dollars they throw on the table as crumbs while they take the majority of the catch from where they come?” Said Watkins.

The Correctional Agency of Tennessee inflicted a fine of $ 44.7 million in Corecivic in four prisons from 2022 to February, in particular for violations of breach. The files obtained by AD also show that the company has spent more than $ 4.4 million to settle around 80 prosecution and complaints sheltered from ill -treatment – including at least 22 deaths of prisoners – in four Tennessee prisons and two prisons from 2016 to September 2024.

The state controller published scathing audits in 2017, 2020 and 2023.

The company based in Brentwood, based in Tennessee, has defended itself by showing problems on the scale of industry with hiring and maintaining workers.

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The writer Associated Press Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.