The Former Prisons Being Refilled By ICE

ICE's fastest-growing detention capacity isn't new construction, it's old prisons. This page indexes every dedicated ICE facility I track that occupies a former prison (plus one that was built as a prison and never opened): what the building used to be, who owns the ground under it, when it flipped, and where to read more. Populations are average daily counts from ICE's FY2026 detention statistics. Last updated August 4, 2026.

At a glance

The shape of it: twelve of these are active conversions of closed or idled private prisons — together they hold roughly 10,200 people on an average day, in about 19,800 beds. Three more (Winton, Big Horn, Appleton) add another 4,100 beds this year. In fourteen of the seventeen buildings, the operator owns the land outright; the recurring pattern is a private operator holding an empty prison until ICE needs it, with a county or small town signing the paperwork for a modest cut. The exceptions are worth watching, because they show who is left holding the asset when the bet goes wrong. Jones County, Texas, for example, has been carrying the debt on an empty prison since 2010.

Former federal (BOP) private prisons

Nearly all of these were Criminal Alien Requirement (CAR) prisons — segregated federal prisons that held only non-citizens. DOJ's phase-outs of private prisons (the 2016 Yates memo, then a January 2021 executive order) emptied them; ICE's 2025–26 expansion refilled them.

Cibola County Correctional Center — Milan, NM

CoreCivic, company-owned · 1,116 beds · ICE since Oct 2016

The first conversion. BOP terminated its CAR contract after investigations into deaths and medical negligence; the ICE agreement with Cibola County commenced three days before the old contract expired — no idle gap at all. In March 2026 the county commission voted to wind down the agreement, 16 days after ICE moved to enter a direct sole-source contract with CoreCivic, keeping the facility alive. Timeline (Innovation Law Lab) · Wind-down vote (Source NM)

Northeast Ohio Correctional Center — Youngstown, OH

CoreCivic, company-owned · 2,016 beds · ICE 2016–2020, again since 2025

Never fully closed — federal prisoners left in 2015, but Marshals and state use continued throughout. ICE has come and gone twice: a 2016 contract that ended in February 2020, then a return via contract modification in February 2025. Today it holds ICE detainees alongside roughly 650 USMS and 925 Ohio state prisoners. First ICE exit (WFMJ) · County joins 2025 contract (Vindicator)

El Valle Detention Facility — Raymondville, TX

MTC, company-owned · 1,000 beds · ICE since Jul 2018

Formerly Willacy County Correctional Center — the ~3,000-bed "tent city" (detainees called it "Ritmo"). A February 2015 riot over medical neglect left the Kevlar domes uninhabitable and BOP cancelled its contract. The land story is unique here: in 2017 the county sold the facility to its own operator, MTC, for ~$68M (mostly to satisfy bondholders, plus $2M to the county and $3/day per future inmate). MTC demolished the domes, kept the 1,000-bed concrete unit, and reopened it for ICE. The only one where a county sold the facility outright to its operator. Riot and closure (PLN) · Sale terms (MyRGV)

Eden Detention Center — Eden, TX

CoreCivic, company-owned · 1,504 beds · ICE since Jun 2019

CAR prison until April 2017, when its contract lapsed in the post-Yates-memo wind-down. Reopened June 2019 split between US Marshals (844 beds) and ICE (660), and has operated continuously since. Commonly misreported as a 2025 reopening — the 2025 record is a routine inspection. 2019 reactivation (CoreCivic)

Adams County Detention Center — Natchez, MS

CoreCivic, company-owned · 2,232 beds · ICE since 2019

CAR prison (site of a 2012 riot). The handoff here never skipped a beat: ICE detainees began arriving in June 2019 under the modified BOP contract, before the dedicated ICE agreement with Adams County commenced that August — a bridge pattern showing how little daylight there can be between one federal customer and the next. ICE arrival (Natchez Democrat)

Moshannon Valley Processing Center — Philipsburg, PA

GEO Group, company-owned · 1,878 beds · ICE since Nov 2021

CAR prison until March 2021; an ICE facility by that November, via a five-year agreement Clearfield County commissioners approved that September. The county's cut is about $1M over five years. The largest immigration detention center in the Northeast. The county's role (Spotlight PA)

Folkston D. Ray ICE Processing Center — Folkston, GA

GEO Group, company-owned · 1,868 beds · ICE since Jun 2025

The former D. Ray James Correctional Facility — a Georgia state prison before its 2010 conversion to a BOP CAR prison, which emptied in 2021 when BOP declined to rebid. After a 2022 attempt to fold it into the Folkston ICE complex was halted by DHS, it sat idle until June 2025, when ICE activated all 1,868 beds through a modification of Charlton County's existing Folkston agreement. The combined complex — 2,986 beds — has been billed as the largest in the country. "Expansion," actually a reactivation (AJC)

North Lake Correctional Facility — Baldwin, MI

GEO Group, company-owned · 1,800 beds · ICE since Jun 2025

Built by Wackenhut in 1999, this facility has churned through customers its whole life: Vermont state prisoners until 2017, idle, then a BOP CAR contract from 2019 until September 2022. ICE announced "immediate activation" in March 2025 (a direct contract worth over $70M/yr); detainees arrived that June. The largest ICE facility in the Midwest. Baldwin's story (In These Times)

California City Immigration Processing Center — California City, CA

CoreCivic · 2,560 beds · ICE since Aug 2025 · land now federally owned

Built on spec for ~$100M in 1998, used by BOP and then leased to California's prison system until 2024, idle for a year and a half, then filled with ICE detainees starting August 2025 under a ~$130M/yr contract. The land story: in July 2026 CoreCivic sold the facility to the federal government for ~$732.6M, part of a ~$1.5B two-facility California sale — a rare private-to-federal title transfer, at roughly seven times the construction cost. The sale (CalMatters) · Is it legal? (KQED)

Former US Marshals detention facilities

Midwest Regional Reception Center — Leavenworth, KS

CoreCivic, company-owned · 1,033 beds · ICE since Mar 2026

The former Leavenworth Detention Center held Marshals prisoners from 1992 until the end of 2021. The reopening was the most litigated of any conversion: the city sued to require a special use permit, won an injunction in June 2025, and won again on appeal in February 2026 — with ICE's contract already running and the building empty. Leavenworth granted the permit in March 2026, 4–1, with a community oversight board as a condition; detainees arrived within days. The litigation (Civil Rights Clearinghouse) · Slow ramp-up (Kansas Reflector)

West Tennessee Detention Facility — Mason, TN

CoreCivic, company-owned · 600 beds · ICE since Sep 2025

A Marshals pretrial facility idled in September 2021. The town of Mason (pop. ~1,300) approved CoreCivic's ICE agreement in August 2025 after a chaotic public meeting; the deal runs to 2030 at roughly $30–35M/yr. Detainees arrived within a month. The meeting (Tennessee Lookout)

Former state prisons & the odd cases

Bluebonnet Detention Facility — Anson, TX

MTC, county-owned · 1,000 beds · ICE since Nov 2019

In 2010 Jones County borrowed $35 million and built a 122,000-square-foot lockup because the State of Texas said it wanted a prison there — and then, with construction barely underway, the state rescinded the contract. Texas had committed just as its prison population began to fall; the building was obsolete before it opened.

The county was stuck. In Texas a county cannot sue the state without the legislature's permission, so Jones County carried the bond debt and hunted for a tenant for nine years, watching a new prison age in the weather thirty miles north of Abilene. GEO Group looked at buying the building in 2017 for ICE use and walked away. In August 2019 the county signed with ICE and with MTC as operator: five years, $145 million, $106 per detainee per day, and a floor of 750 beds paid for whether or not anyone is in them. Detainees arrived that November. The county's cut is a little over $500,000 a year, against $35 million in bonds. It is the only building indexed here whose sole occupants have ever been immigration detainees, and one of only three where the operator doesn't own the ground. Empty for a decade (KACU) · Supreme Court order (NPR)

Cimarron Correctional Facility — Cushing, OK

CoreCivic, company-owned · 1,650 beds · ICE beds added Feb 2025

The exception that proves the rule: never actually closed. Oklahoma's prison system left in 2020 and a Marshals contract was signed the same year with no gap; ICE beds (up to 360) were added by contract modification in February 2025. A former state prison hosting ICE, but no "zombie prison" reopening here. USMS contract (CoreCivic)

Diamondback Correctional Facility — Watonga, OK

CoreCivic, company-owned since 1998 · 2,160 beds · ICE since early 2026

The purest zombie prison on this list. Diamondback held other states' overflow prisoners — Hawaii's and Arizona's among them — until it went vacant in 2010, and stayed that way for fifteen years while CoreCivic maintained it for what its CEO called "seamless reactivation." The reopening deal is routed through the state: a five-year agreement between the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and ICE, with a fixed monthly payment plus per-diems, ~$100M/yr in expected revenue, and $13M in ICE-requested renovations. First detainees arrived in the first quarter of 2026. Reopening (News 9)

Opening soon

Winton ICE Processing Center — Winton, NC

GEO Group, company-owned · 1,320 beds · expected fall 2026

The former Rivers Correctional Institution, a CAR prison empty since 2021. GEO announced a five-year, ~$80M/yr direct contract on July 29, 2026. Plans (WUNC)

Big Horn Facility — Hudson, CO

GEO Group, leased from Highlands REIT · 1,188 beds · contract Jul 2026

The former Hudson Correctional Facility, built for Alaska's prisoners and dormant since about 2013 or 2014. One of the few conversions where the operator doesn't own the ground — GEO leases from Highlands REIT. A second Hudson facility has been reported under the $529M agreement that covers the full Colorado expansion. Contract (GEO) · Town reactions (Colorado Politics)

Appleton Detention Facility — Appleton, MN

CoreCivic, company-owned · 1,600 beds · contract commences Aug 11, 2026

The former Prairie Correctional Facility. The city of Appleton built itself a speculative prison in 1990–92 with $28.5M in municipal revenue bonds — on what had been a soybean field. The bonds defaulted; CCA (now CoreCivic) bought the defaulted debt for $22.5M in 1996, took over management, and held title by 1998. The prison closed in 2010 and sat empty for sixteen years. Its five-year ICE contract (~$75M/yr) commences August 11, 2026. One more thing from the old SEC filings: the facility was already holding INS detainees by 1997 — immigration detention in Appleton is a return, not an arrival. Announcement (MinnPost)

Watching, unconfirmed, or ruled out

• Reeves County, TX — an October 2025 reopening under GEO was reported (WaPo, Big Bend Sentinel), but no contract award or detainee arrivals have surfaced; GEO's own new-beds list excludes it. Unconfirmed.
• Big Spring / Flightline, TX — still idle as of August 2026; the city and GEO have been negotiating since 2022.
• Marana, AZ — MTC bought this former state prison in 2025; ICE issued a sole-source notice for up to 775 beds, activation due by late 2026. Not finalized.
• Queens Detention Facility, NY — GEO's shuttered Marshals jail in Jamaica, still idle.
• FCI Dublin, CA — closed federal women's prison; a 2026 environmental review is seen by advocates as a repurposing step. BOP and DHS deny ICE plans.
• Ruled out: Giles W. Dalby (Texas state prison since Feb 2026), Taft CI (permanently closed Jul 2026), Great Plains/Hinton (Oklahoma DOC), McRae (sold to the State of Georgia). Despite recurring rumors, none of these went to ICE.

Further reading

• The Marshall Project, "Zombie Prisons" (Aug 2025)
• NPR, investigation of conditions inside 16 reopened facilities (Dec 2025)
• Washington Post, overview of the prison-to-ICE wave (Sep 2025)
• ACLU, FOIA litigation on six planned detention centers

Methodology: this index covers dedicated ICE detention facilities whose buildings previously operated as prisons (federal, state, or municipal spec), plus Bluebonnet, which was built as a state prison and never opened as one — but not county jails renting beds, and not ICE units inside currently operating prisons (Angola's Camp 57, Baker CI, Miami Correctional). Bed counts are contract capacity; populations are FY2026 average daily population. Every claim here traces to a source in my working dataset. Corrections are welcome!