Tennessee town approves deals to turn closed prison into immigration detention facility
The five-member Board of Alderman in Mason, plus Mayor Eddie Noeman and Vice Mayor Reynaldo Givhan, met in a fire station garage to discuss converting the closed West Tennessee Detention Facility into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center run by CoreCivic Inc.
Also present were a few dozen vocal, angry members of the public who oppose allowing ICE to house immigrants in Mason who have been taken into custody as President Donald Trump pushes for mass deportations . Trump has touted a Florida detention facility where allegations of mistreatment of detainees have drawn lawsuits from civil rights advocates and environmental groups .
The first vote of the meeting resulted in approval for a contract with CoreCivic to resume operating the facility, which was closed in 2021 after President Joe Biden ordered the Department of Justice to stop renewing contracts with private detention facilities . Trump reversed that order in January. The second vote, to approve an agreement with ICE, also passed.
It is not immediately known when the facility will reopen.
Noeman said he wanted to reopen the shuttered prison to bring jobs and economic development to the town, which has struggled with financial problems and needs infrastructure improvements. With a population of about 1,300, Mason is located about 40 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Memphis. When it was open, the prison was the town's largest employer and an important economic engine.
Noeman, an Egyptian-American immigrant and a longtime business owner in the town, called turning the closed prison over to CoreCivic and ICE a 'win-win situation,' which led to a cascade of loud boos.
'It's nothing personal about any immigrant,' Noeman said, adding moments later that 'to give jobs to the people is what I'm looking for.'
At times, Noeman argued with attendees, questioning whether they actually live in Mason and telling them 'you don't know what you're talking about.'
Before the meeting, board member Virginia Rivers told The Associated Press that she does not support turning the prison into an ICE facility because 'I don't like what ICE stands for, how they treat the people.'
During the meeting, she noted that some immigrants without criminal records are being swept up by immigration agents and separated from their families. She said approving the contracts would make Mason 'complicit in the abusive treatment of immigrants.'
'We as officials of the town of Mason that were elected by the citizens should consider the consequences and the hurt that this would cause our local community, our neighbors, Tennessee schools and many families,' Rivers said.
CoreCivic said in a statement that the ICE facility would create nearly 240 new jobs, and it is currently advertising openings for detention officers at a pay rate of $26.50 per hour. The facility would also generate about $325,000 in annual property tax revenue and $200,000 for Mason that could be used for schools, infrastructure improvements and other projects, the company said.
'The services we provide help the government solve problems in ways it could not do alone — to help create safer communities by assisting with the current immigration challenges, dramatically improve the standard of care for vulnerable people, and meet other critical needs efficiently and innovatively,' CoreCivic said.
In 2022, Mason reached a deal with the state of Tennessee after it attempted to take over the city's finances following years of alleged mismanagement. Some members of the public who spoke at the meeting said Mason is a majority-Black town with a history of being ignored and treated with disrespect.
One of the speakers, Charles Watkins, noted that CoreCivic was the operator of the prison under its previous name, Corrections Corporation of America.
'How is it that we can consistently let these organizations come into Black communities and then just somehow overwhelm us with the few dollars that they throw on the table as crumbs while they take the majority of the take back to wherever they came from?' Watkins said.
Tennessee's corrections agency has fined CoreCivic $44.7 million across four prisons from 2022 through February, including for understaffing violations. Records obtained by AP also show the company has spent more than $4.4 million to settle about 80 lawsuits and out-of-court complaints alleging mistreatment — including at least 22 inmate deaths — at four Tennessee prisons and two jails from 2016 through September 2024.
The state comptroller released scathing audits in 2017 , 2020 and 2023 .
The Brentwood, Tennessee-based company has defended itself by pointing to industrywide problems with hiring and keeping workers.
___
Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Geoff Epstein wants to become Framingham's third mayor. Here are his priorities
FRAMINGHAM — He has three key priorities, a clear campaign finance strategy and a name that ... has brought some attention. Geoff Epstein has big plans for Framingham. Epstein, a former School Committee member, hopes to become the city's third mayor. He's facing off against incumbent Mayor Charlie Sisitsky, who's seeking a second four-year term, in the Nov. 4 city election. After filing with the state's campaign finance office in January, Epstein, who also writes The Framingham Observer blog, went on to acquire enough signatures to appear on the ballot in November. In a sit-down interview with the Daily News, Epstein shared his goals if elected, which include investing more in the schools, installing more environmental projects and repairing infrastructure. Mayoral candidate is focused on three main issues Epstein said his top three issues are education, environment and infrastructure. Epstein, who has served on both the Framingham and Newton school boards, says things have gotten worse in Framingham Public Schools over the past four years. While saying the School Department has the best team the city could have, he says it's time to return money to the school system. 'Our schools were promised': Trump administration review holds up $1M in Framingham education grants According to Epstein, Framingham schools have been defunded by $30 million in taxpayer-funded support. He said that because local funding strayed from the trajectory it was on when he was on School Committee, that money has been defunded. 'If it had stayed on the trajectory it was on, the local support, taxpayer-funded support of the schools, it would be at $95 million,' Epstein said. 'If you compute overall, what's the difference between if it stayed on the direction it was going when I was there (on the School Committee)? Thirty million.' According to the schools' fiscal 2026 budget sheet, local funding went from $89.8 million in fiscal 2022 to $84.8 million in fiscal 2023. This was further reduced to about $80 million in fiscal 2024 before rising to $86.7 million in fiscal 2025. For the current year, the school budget has $90.6 million in local contribution funding. Epstein also said MCAS scores have gone down for every grade. "That's unusual, there's something really dire about that," he said. Epstein wants to expand preschool for students in order to increase English language profiency before they start kindergarten. He also wants to boost compensation for classroom aides, as well as address the city's teacher retention rate. 'Urgency of climate change': Framingham State unveils its latest sustainability initiative "Teacher morale is low, so you've got a situation where students are not performing well and the teachers are leaving, which is very unusual, Epstein said. "The school school system is trending down because of that." For the environment, he wants to expand solar installations on public buildings, something he said the city should have begun awhile ago. "We should have gone gangbusters on that and installed them," Epstein said, adding that installing solar panels at schools and parking lots would generate up to $3 million in utlity savings. "I thought that was a natural thing that should obviously be done and wasn't; if I get elected mayor, we'll try and do 10 solar installations a year, which you can actually do." Lastly, Epstein wants to address what he says is a backlog of roof and road repairs, along with water and sewer infrastructure. He pointed out that a year ago, Department of Public Works Director Robert Lewis called the city's water and sewer infrastructure a "ticking time bomb" during a City Council public hearing. "We're not alone, other communities are trying to deal with this, but we have not invested properly in it," Epstein said. "It's Governance 101, invest in your infrastructure." Epstein talks campaign finance On his website, Epstein said he needs $30,000 in donations to run an effective campaign. He said that the big money in campaigning comes from getting the word out through mailers, yard signs and social media. "Suppose you're targeting 10,000 voters, it costs about $1 for each one," he said. "If you send out a mailer, it's $10,000 for a mailer; if you do two, it's $20,000. You can run a district race for about $3,000 — I've done that and that's what it takes. This is nine districts, so it scales up to about $30,000." As of Aug. 6, Epstein has raised $10,838, with about $5,000 of his own money. By comparison, Sisitsky has raised $42,763 since Jan. 1. 'Isn't just about property': Why Nobscot residents take dim view of new housing proposal "I'm supporting Geoff because he has the technical confidence to analyze the finances of Framingham and to analyze administrative systems the city uses," said Carol Spack, who is running for City Council in District 2. "Geoff will bring, at the top, a philosophy and value system Framingham needs to be a town where government is committed to public service." Epstein also is declining to take donations from real estate developers, claiming they have undue influence on city officials. He pointed to J&Co., the developers behind the controversial Nobscot development, and other developers donating to local campaigns. "I feel like when developers pay you $1,000, they expect something back," Epstein said. About his name... While Framingham residents have known about Epstein for awhile, his campaign recently picked up some viral attention after the name of a certain American financier and child sex offender — the late Jeffrey Epstein — again became part of the news cycle. Epstein's campaign was soon picked up by Politico's Massachusetts Playbook, the New York Post, HuffPost, NewsNation and WBZ's TikTok with reporter Matt Shearer. The Framingham mayoral candidate, who pronounces his last name "ep-stine" as opposed to "ep-steen" has no interest in running from his name. "He was a pretty dark guy and did some terrible things," Epstein said. "You just have to take it as it comes and laugh about it, and that's the approach I've taken because it is my name. I like my name. It's nothing to do with him, but also, I believe with any trouble that comes with any discomfort, you got to talk about it." Framingham election to be held in November Framingham's city election is Nov. 4. The deadline to register to vote is 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25, if in person and 11:59 p.m. that day if online. All public officials are sworn in on Jan. 1. This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Geoff Epstein outlines priorities in campaign for Framingham mayor Solve the daily Crossword
New York Times
27 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trump Wants to Fight Democrats on Crime. They're Treading Cautiously.
With his efforts to take control of law enforcement in Washington, D.C., this week, President Trump has pushed the issue of crime back to the foreground of American politics. In doing so, he's invited a fight with Democrats, who are treading cautiously as they seek to forcefully oppose the federal incursion into the nation's capital, something no president has ever attempted, without getting caught up in a debate over public safety on Mr. Trump's terms. Mr. Trump and his Republican allies wielded the sharp increase in violent crime in urban areas during the pandemic as a campaign cudgel, winning control of the House in the 2022 midterms. Mr. Trump expanded his winning coalition two years later, in part with promises to prevent the rest of America from becoming like the cities he called 'unlivable, unsanitary nightmares,' deriding the data that showed improvement across the country. While his tactics in Washington, D.C., are extraordinary, the effort is an actualization of one of his most tried-and-true political arguments: Democrats — often Black Democrats — have let lawlessness run rampant in the cities and states they were elected to run. At a moment when Mr. Trump's approval ratings even among his supporters are declining, he appears to be laying the groundwork for Republicans to once again weaponize the issue in the midterm elections. Mr. Trump has sent National Guard troops to patrol the streets, turned federal law enforcement officers into beat cops and sought to put the local police department fully under his administration's control. And the president has suggested he wants to bring his brand of law and order to Chicago; Baltimore; Oakland, Calif.; and New York, all liberal cities in blue states, while avoiding any mention of high-crime cities in red states, like Memphis or St. Louis. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNN
27 minutes ago
- CNN
‘An existential threat': For Silicon Valley, falling behind in AI is a bigger threat than tariffs
If there's one thing the White House, Wall Street and Silicon Valley can agree on, it's that artificial intelligence is a top priority. Tech giants are pouring billions into new data centers and infrastructure to support the technology. The White House came out with an AI action plan in July to boost America's leadership in the space, underscoring the tech's importance to the administration. Wall Street keeps pushing AI-related stocks like Nvidia (NVDA) to new records. But President Donald Trump's trade war has raised questions about whether the administration's policies could work against its big AI push. Certain tariffs could raise the costs of materials and components necessary to support those AI models. For example, the president said on August 6 that he would issue a 100% tariff on semiconductors imports, although he added that companies that have committed to expanding their manufacturing operations in the US would be exempt. (He did not give an exact timeline for when those tariffs would start.) And in late July, he imposed a 50% tariff on copper, which is used in electronic components such as printed circuit boards and chips. But while tariffs could stoke uncertainty around costs, experts say they won't slow technological advancements, primarily because the stakes are simply too high to fall behind in the global AI race. For large tech companies like Meta and Microsoft, losing in AI would be a higher price to pay than any additional costs from tariffs. Dallas Dolen, the US technology, media and telecommunications lead for PricewaterhouseCoopers, said these types of companies likely view the AI boom as an 'existential moment' for their businesses. 'Cost, if you have enough money, is not the most important variable that you take into account when you're told it's an existential threat,' he said to CNN. When Meta, Microsoft and Google reported earnings in late July, one message rang loud and clear: Big Tech is spending big on AI, and it's starting to pay off. Meta spent $17 billion in capital expenditures for the quarter that ended in June, and it saw its earnings per share go up 38% compared to a year ago. Capital expenditures typically refer to money spent on things like data centers and infrastructure, likely a sign that Meta is investing more in the servers needed to power its burgeoning AI services. Wall Street cheered the results; Meta shares (META) rose 9% in after-hours trading when it posted the results on July 30, and shares are up roughly 30% year to date. Microsoft (MSFT) also posted strong results thanks to its cloud computing business. It spent $24.2 billion in capital expenditures during its most recent quarter, and it plans to spend another $30 billion in the coming months, the company said in late July. Microsoft became the second company to reach a $4 trillion valuation last month, following Nvidia, and its shares are up about 26% so far this year. And Google parent Alphabet increased its capital expenditures for 2025 to $85 billion because of demand for its cloud products. The company said its cloud services are used by 'nearly all gen AI unicorns,' referring to privately held companies worth $1 billion or more in the generative artificial intelligence space. Alphabet shares (GOOG) are up nearly 7% year to date. That additional infrastructure may be essential; Goldman Sachs estimates that global power demand from data centers will surge 50% by 2027 and 165% by 2030 compared to 2023 because of AI. 'We have barely scratched the surface of this 4th Industrial Revolution now playing out around the world led by the Big Tech stalwarts such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Palantir, Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon,' Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a research note following the companies' earnings results. Trump's rapidly changing tariff policies have made it difficult to estimate how exactly the levies could impact the cost of building and operating data centers. But PwC's Dolen said he's seen estimates indicating that tariffs could increase construction costs by 5% to 7%. The National Association of Manufacturers' outlook survey also found that trade uncertainties and increased costs of raw materials were the top business challenges for manufacturers in the first quarter of 2025. However, big tech companies are likely to eat any additional costs related to AI infrastructure because 'demand is so strong,' said Michelle Brophy, director of research for tech, media and telecom at market intelligence firm AlphaSense. It's a different story for smaller companies that don't have billions to spend each quarter. They also typically have private investors demanding a fast return on investment, and data centers are long-term bets that could take years to show value in a meaningful way. Between 2015 and 2020, it took one to three years on average to construct a data center, according to commercial real estate services firm CBRE. And a data center is useful for 25 years to 30 years on average, McKinsey & Company senior partner Pankaj Sachdeva said in October 2024. Because data centers are long-term projects, 'the degree of uncertainty will have a larger impact in terms of, you know, committing to something that will take multiple years to execute,' said Laurence Ales, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University. It's also unclear whether Trump's semiconductor tariffs will raise the cost of future data centers. The president said companies that have 'committed' to building in the US won't have to pay a levy on semiconductors. 'But the good news for companies like Apple is, if you're building in the United States, or have committed to build, without question, committed to build in the United States, there will be no charge,' he said on August 6 during an event announcing Apple's $100 billion initiative to produce iPhone parts in the US. Trump didn't specify which companies would be exempt, but chipmaking giants Nvidia and TSMC have both said they would expand their US operations. Experts believe more collaboration between the White House and Silicon Valley is likely to come, possibly easing any potential tariff-induced costs for tech giants. Trump showed his willingness to negotiate with tech leaders earlier this week: He allowed Nvidia and AMD to sell their AI chips to China as long as they provide a 15% cut to the US government in exchange for export licenses. And the White House is reportedly discussing taking a stake in chipmaker Intel. Building AI infrastructure is a key part of the White House's AI action plan, which includes policy recommendations for streamlining permits for facilities like data centers and semiconductor manufacturing facilities. The United States already has more data centers than any other country, according to data from Cloudscene, a platform that connects businesses with cloud services, compiled by Statista. Many of the world's largest cloud providers, like Microsoft and Amazon, are American companies. 'We need to be mindful that this is an area in which we have an advantage,' Matt Pearl, director of the strategic technologies program at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, said to CNN. 'And we don't want to give that up.'
