In the small, majority-Black town of Mason, Tenn., population just 1,300, leaders have voted to reopen a shuttered prison as an ICE detention center, sparking outrage from residents and activists.
The deal hands the facility over to private prison giant CoreCivic despite the company’s $44 million in state fines and dozens of lawsuits over understaffing, abuse and at least 22 inmate deaths in Tennessee facilities since 2016.
Supporters, including Mayor Eddie Noeman, say the move will bring 240 jobs and nearly $500,000 in tax revenue. But opponents warn it will make Mason complicit in family separations and abusive treatment of immigrants, as President Donald Trump pushes mass deportations and reverses former President Joe Biden’s ban on private detention contracts.
For this majority-Black community with a history of state overreach, critics say the promise of jobs looks more like crumbs from a billion-dollar prison industry built on incarceration.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
