LEAVENWORTH — CoreCivic will reopen its private prison in Leavenworth to house immigration detainees after city commissioners approved the company’s special use permit on Tuesday, the result of a process one commissioner called “agonizing.”
Two people were arrested and multiple people were ejected as they shouted profanity during an hour of public comments and 30 minutes of discussion before the city commission voted 4 to 1 to approve the permit.
CoreCivic and the city of Leavenworth have been fighting for a year as the company sought to reopen the prison it closed in 2021. With a $60 million U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement annual contract in hand, the Nashville-based private prison company tried through the courts to reopen without going through the city’s development process.
Brian Todd, a CoreCivic spokesman, said in a statement that ICE officials would decide when the Midwest Regional Reception Center will begin housing detainees.
“As we have from the start, CoreCivic remains committed to operating a safe, transparent and accountable facility,” he said. “We look forward to our continued partnership with the city and to the benefits the MRRC will bring to Leavenworth and the surrounding communities.”
The vote was a second — and final — consideration of CoreCivic’s special use permit, which sets regulations for how the prison will operate and oversight the city will provide.
Commissioner Rebecca Hollister was the sole vote against the permit, as she was during the first consideration on Feb. 24.
HOLLISTER SAID specific issues outlined in the permit caused her to vote no, including a clause that requires breaches of the agreement to continue for 30 days after a notice before termination could occur.
“There have been valid concerns regarding potential violations that occur intermittently, but not necessarily for 30 days continuously,” she said.
Hollister said CoreCivic officials answered her questions and invited her into the facility, but that she believes the company’s promise of transparency and cooperation “requires a high level of trust” that is difficult for her to have, especially given the company’s problems at other facilities.
“With the knowledge I have right now, I just do not have sufficient faith that their operation would meet all the ‘golden factors’ in development regulations,” she said. “I hope to be wrong, and I think that’s possible based on my last positive conversations with staff.”
Two commissioners made it clear their positive votes swung on fiscal responsibility.
“This has been an agonizing process,” said Commissioner Joe Wilson. “Everybody wants to make this morality over fiduciary responsibility, but I think there is a real risk to the future of the city, based on how the vote turns out that has to be considered, that could have long-term ramifications for our children, for our tax base, for our law enforcement and our firefighters and the services that we can provide.”
Commissioner Holly Pittman agreed, saying leadership doesn’t mean choosing an easy path.
She was mayor last year for much of the city’s court fights with CoreCivic and was the subject of dark-money political ads accusing her of holding back progress by forcing CoreCivic to go through the special permit process.
Pittman said the vote wasn’t about immigration policy or national politics, or whether she or anyone else dislikes CoreCivice.
