{"id":1167,"date":"2026-07-26T18:37:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T18:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1167"},"modified":"2026-07-26T18:37:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T18:37:04","slug":"ice-to-reopen-private-prison-as-massive-north-carolina-detention-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1167","title":{"rendered":"ICE to Reopen Private Prison as Massive North Carolina Detention Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<!-- begin partial\/series-card --><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><i><span>Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a <\/span><\/i><i><span>quick donation<\/span><\/i><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1165\">Trump Medicaid Rule Could Strip Coverage From Seriously Ill People<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be reopening a for-profit prison in Winton, North Carolina, as one of the largest immigrant detention facilities on the East Coast, according to reports from the <em>New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The report cited internal ICE documents showing plans for a mass detention center in the former Rivers Correctional Institution with 1,400 beds. It\u2019s part of an agreement between the federal government and  GEO Group, a nationwide private prison network.<\/p>\n<p>On its website, GEO Group recently published a job posting for a \u201cfacility maintenance manager\u201d for Rivers Correctional Institution, a prison that has been empty for five years. A separate recruiting website lists the posting date as July 11.<\/p>\n<p>GEO Group previously operated the facility as a \u201ccriminal alien requirement\u201d prison, reserved for non-citizens convicted of federal crimes, before the U.S. terminated its contract in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>During its years of operation from 2001 to 2021, Rivers was the subject of a litany of health and safety complaints from inmates who alleged understaffing, inadequate medical care, and pervasive discrimination by staff.<\/p>\n<p>In a 2007 class action lawsuit, inmates incarcerated at Rivers alleged a pattern of denial of medical treatment that led to severe injury and death in some instances. \u201cThe health care system at the Rivers facility is broken,\u201d the complaint alleged. GEO Group was ultimately dismissed from the lawsuit before those claims could be addressed.<\/p>\n<p>GEO Group did not respond to a request for comment on the facility\u2019s reopening.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for ICE said in a statement to <em>NC Newsline<\/em> that while the agency is at work expanding its capacity around the U.S., no new facility is opening yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have no new detention centers to announce at this time,\u201d the agency said in a statement. \u201cIt should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kristi Graunke, the legal director for the ACLU of North Carolina, said the facility has been on her radar for months. <em>The Washington Post<\/em> reported last August that the federal government was considering reopening it, and apparent construction activity at the facility led to protests by advocates and local residents in recent months.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1163\">Reporters in Gaza Are Under Attack. Will I Be Recognized as One If I Am Killed?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had an inkling that this would be looked at, and certainly we were also hearing from community partners who were essentially seeing signs that Rivers would be reopened in Winton,\u201d Graunke said. \u201cConstruction equipment, trucks, heavy machinery \u2014 items that suggested that work was taking place there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Josh Stein condemned the facility\u2019s reopening on social media Friday. He emphasized that the facility is not state-owned, and he had no role in its reopening as a detention facility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cICE has a proven track record of arresting, detaining, and abusing American citizens, and the overwhelming majority of people ICE has detained have no criminal record. Meanwhile, last year dozens of people died while in ICE custody,\u201d Stein wrote. \u201cLike many other North Carolinians, I do not want it in our state. ICE and Border Patrol have not earned our trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While public backlash has been effective in halting some ICE initiatives \u2014 including a push to repurpose warehouses around the U.S. as mass detention centers \u2014 advocates say there is little local residents can do to block a facility that has already been built from reopening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll the permitting and all the stuff that local communities can typically rally around when these things are proposed already happened decades ago at Rivers,\u201d said Andreina Malki, a defense manager at immigrant rights group Siembra NC. \u201cThat being said, if it\u2019s going to be opened as a detention center, I think we need to make sure that local elected officials or other community representatives have access to the place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Hertford County Board of Commissioners did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement on social media earlier this year, the county government stressed that it has no ability to intervene in the facility\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Rivers Correctional Facility is a privately operated facility that operates under contract with the federal government,\u201d the county wrote in February. \u201cDecisions regarding its use, operations, or repurposing are made at the federal level and are not under the authority or control of Hertford County Government or the Hertford County Board of Commissioners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Malki said advocates can still make a difference by opposing further ICE expansion in the state.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne thing that we can do in North Carolina in general, beyond Winton or Hertford County, is make sure that in places where we don\u2019t have prisons built already, where we don\u2019t have detention centers built, which are not zoned for that kind of facility, that that doesn\u2019t happen,\u201d Malki said. \u201cIf there\u2019s a town or a city, county that\u2019s proposing something like that, be proactive so that this is the last detention center that we see open in North Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1161\">Advocates Sue Trump Administration Over Secret Dossiers on ICE Watchers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 1,400-bed facility comes as the Trump administration ramps up immigrant detention nationwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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