The Town of Mason, Tennessee, will decide tonight whether it will approve a contract with Corecivic to reopen an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in town.
CoreCivic closed down its Mason detention facility in 2021 after former President Joe Biden signed an executive order ending federal government contracts with privately operated criminal detention facilities. In January, President Donald Trump reversed this policy when he took office.
Mason’s board of aldermen and its mayor, Eddie Noeman, will be discussing only this item at tonight’s special meeting.
One person who indicated that he will already vote is Noeman. The mayor told Action News 5 that he saw this as a good business opportunity.
“It’s good for the town. I am just looking in the best interest of the town,” he told the outlet.
The mayor said he did not see any problems with reopening the town’s detention facility.
“These people have a misunderstanding. They are saying, ‘We don’t want it.’ Why? Do you live here in the Town of Mason and don’t want it? If you live here in the Town of Mason, you have the right to vote and pay your bill here. So you have the right to say ‘yea’ or ‘no,’” he told the outlet.
Earlier this year, Mason’s board of aldermen approved a draft contract between the town and Corecivic. According to meeting minutes from its March 17 meeting, the town’s city attorney, Nathan Bicks, said he was negotiating with Corecivic about increasing the rate of the daily inmate fee to $1.25 or $1.50. The draft contract had it at $1.00.
Noeman told the outlet that Corecivic wanted to reopen the facility, and he told the company “you’re welcome, no problem.”
“I like any kind of business,” the mayor stated. Noeman noted that he wants to bring back the jobs that were lost when the facility closed four years ago.
At the meeting tonight, protesters are expected to attend to object to the reopening of this facility.
Tennessee For All, which is a left-wing nonprofit, put out a post on social media last week urging people to RSVP to attend the meeting.
“Core Civic is a for profit ICE facility that has been lining our politicians pockets for years. They are trying to re-open a private ICE facility in Mason TN. Join us on Tuesday, August 12 at 7PM as the Mason City Council votes on re-opening the facility,” the Facebook post said.
“This is a classic case of corporate overreach and we must stop big corporations like Core Civic from harming our immigrant communities and changing our neighborhoods,” it added.
As an organization, CoreCivic has faced criticism in recent months, specifically over how it runs the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, which is Tennessee’s largest prison facility.
In June, a riot broke out at the facility, which resulted in three inmates and a prison guard sustaining minor injuries.
After the riot, Trousdale County District Attorney Jason Lawson said the facility should be run by the state rather than Corecivic.
“I am confident that Commissioner [Frank] Strada and the Tennessee Department of Correction could manage this situation far better than what is being done by CoreCivic,” he stated.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected].
