Up North Progressive

In four days, GEO Group’s North Lake Correctional Facility once again will close. The for-profit prison in search of a prison population lost its contract through President Biden’s January 2021 executive order to not use private prisons for federal detainees. US Congressmen John Moolenar and Bill Huizenga, in June of 2022, proposed to convert the prison into an ICE detention center.

In response to this proposal, No Detention Centers in Michigan drafted an open letter seeking signatures from other organizations asking that NLCF not be reopened as an ICE detention center. President Biden, Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, Governor Whitmer, and Senator Peters received copies of the letter. Over 50 organizations – more than 20 from Michigan and 30 from other national organizations (Full disclosure, Up North Progressive signed this letter).

“We are deeply troubled by this proposal because it follows a recent pattern of actions from the Biden administration contravening its stated goal of ending the use of private facilities for detention because we know that ICE operates a system of abusive and inhumane detention centers across the country and because the presence of this prison in Baldwin has been disastrous for decades.”

The letter details the tragic history of NLCF in Lake County, Michigan, the false promise of hundreds of local jobs, and the numerous reports of abuse of detainees at the prison, especially the inhumane confinement and medical treatment of detainees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

GEO Group already petitioned Lake County to have the prison property devalued to get a break on their tax bill. Reopening the facility would require another prison activation, more job fairs offering the lowest paying jobs, and importing people from other GEO Group prisons around the country to put more strain on the housing crisis that is part of the northern Michigan landscape.

The letter calls for President Biden to extend his executive order to include ICE detention centers operating in for-profit prisons. Oscar Castañeda, a member of No Detention Centers in Michigan, had this to add to the letter:

“This prison has already caused enormous suffering and has never fulfilled GEO’s promises to the people of Lake County. Now the federal prison contract is finally ending, but we’ve seen that GEO will exploit any opportunity to make a profit. When it comes to the immigrant detention system, the Biden administration has not kept its word. We’re not going to let ICE expand here without a fight. We want to make sure that the loopholes allowing for the expansion of detention are closed and that this time, North Lake stays shut down for good.”

Wackenhut/ GEO Group should have never built North Lake Correctional Facility. May this be the last time it closes and stays closed for good.