In the hilly countryside of northwest Oklahoma, workers have been installing razor wire fencing and air conditioning units to prepare the long-shuttered Diamondback Correctional Facility to house immigrants awaiting deportation proceedings.  

A few miles away, cars drive down the town of Watonga’s sleepy main street, and some customers trickle in and out of a handful of open shops. Many of the downtown storefronts have weathered facades, and about half are locked and vacant, with decaying signs. Watonga’s sales tax revenue was down nearly 10 percent in November from the previous year, according to state data.

A hardware store, a floral shop and a carpet and flooring business are a few of the businesses that have survived. Some in Watonga see Diamondback’s reopening as a welcome boost to the local economy. 

CoreCivic, a Tennessee-based private company that owns five other facilities in Oklahoma, announced in early October that it was awarded a new five-year contract with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement and the state Department of Corrections to resume operations at its 2,160-bed facility in Watonga. 

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The Trump administration is expanding the use of private, for-profit prisons to house detainees as it looks to deport 1 million immigrants a year. Meanwhile, CoreCivic has faced allegations of mistreatment of immigration detainees at facilities across the country. A disability rights group observed immigrants at a California City facility operated by CoreCivic being put in “criminal prison-like solitary confinement” earlier this month.  

A spokesperson for the company said in an email that it takes its obligation seriously to adhere to all applicable federal detention standards at ICE-contracted facilities. ICE monitors all immigration facilities daily. The facilities are audited regularly and without notice several times a year, and families, attorneys and elected officials also visit, he said. 

Aaron Clewell, the owner of Clewell’s Family Hardware & Appliance in downtown Watonga, said he expects Diamondback to bring new business into town and trusts the locals who could work at the facility to treat detainees well. But he said it doesn’t feel like a total win for the town. 

“I don’t feel great about a community profiting on the suffering of a whole population,” Clewell said. 

Diamondback will create approximately 400 new jobs with a starting salary of $29 an hour for detention officers, a CoreCivic spokesperson said in an emailed statement. He said the facility will also generate about $760,000 in annual property taxes and approximately $2 million in annual utility payments.

Diamondback was the scene of riots in 1999 and 2004 when CoreCivic housed prisoners from other states at the facility.

But Watonga residents said the prison also had a large economic impact on the community.  

The prison left a void when it closed in 2010, and some residents are wary of relying on it again. Watonga’s population dropped from 5,111 residents the year that Diamondback closed to 2,690 in 2020, according to U.S. Census data. The median household income in Watonga is $50,765, about 23% below the statewide median. 

“I want to see the community accept it, which I believe the majority of Watonga does,” said Richard Larson, head curator at the T. B. Ferguson Home Museum. “But I don’t want Watonga to get in a situation where it banks on it for the long term.” 

CoreCivic’s contract to operate Diamondback is expected to generate approximately $100 million in annual revenue for the company once the facility is fully activated.

CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger said on a November earnings call that ICE detention populations nationwide were at a historic high at the end of September. The company reported an 18% increase in revenue for the third quarter of the year. ICE has been CoreCivic’s biggest customer for over a decade, and the number of immigration detainees across CoreCivic’s prisons has increased by 37% since the start of the year, Hininger said. 

CoreCivic executives discussed Diamondback as one of four idle facilities they’re working to reopen. Demand will likely continue based on ICE’s goal for 100,000 immigration detention beds, said chief financial officer David Garfinkle. 

Immigration facilities opening in small towns

Lorena Rivas, a Tulsa-based immigration attorney, said some of her clients at CoreCivic’s  Cimarron Correctional Facility have reported bad food, among other poor conditions. She also said some have experienced logistical challenges that have prevented them from making it to court hearings online or in person, or communicating with attorneys. 

A spokesperson for CoreCivic said in an email that there was “no validity to these claims.” He said the company provides three meals daily at Cimarron, with menus approved by a registered dietitian to ensure proper nutrition and accommodate specialized diets. He also said CoreCivic is “firmly committed to providing those in our care with access to counsel and access to courts.”

The Cimarron facility has had a history of violent incidents over the past decade, including a 2015 prison riot that led to the death of four inmates and is considered one of the deadliest in Oklahoma history.

Rivas believes many immigration detention centers are in rural towns because private prison companies know residents are hungry for jobs and business. It’s also harder for immigrants to have access to legal assistance and resources in remote locations, she said. 

“It is easier to trample on the basic rights of people when less people are able to know about what’s going on,” Rivas said. 

CoreCivic pays fees to some towns where its private prisons are located. The town of Cushing earns $1.02 per inmate, per day they are housed at Cimarron Correctional Facility.  The company has pledged to pay the town of Leavenworth, Kansas, a $1-million one-time impact fee and a $250,000 additional fee each year for hosting an immigration facility. 

But Watonga has no agreement in place to collect compensation beyond utilities from CoreCivic, said Rep. Mike Dobrinski, R-Okeene, whose district includes the town. Two Watonga city council members said they weren’t aware of negotiations on an agreement. The city’s mayor and city manager didn’t respond to questions. 

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections will act as a monitor for contracts between CoreCivic and ICE related to the Diamondback facility, ensuring that CoreCivic operates within ICE standards, a state corrections spokesperson said in an email. 

A management agreement between the Department of Corrections and CoreCivic indicates that the state agency will receive a monthly fee of $833,333.33 to monitor CoreCivic’s compliance and perform administrative functions. CoreCivic is to provide office space, equipment and furnishings for a Department of Corrections designee at Diamondback. The agreement requires the Department of Corrections to have access at all times, with or without notice, to detainees, staff and all areas of the facility. 

Dobrinski said he’s talked about the prison reopening with Department of Corrections director Justin Farris, and understands the Department of Corrections will have supervisory responsibility for Diamondback like it does with all state prisons in Oklahoma. He said he’ll also be monitoring CoreCivic’s management of the Diamondback facility.

“In this case, with it being a federally operated facility, we’re going to trust that it goes like it’s supposed to, but we’re going to verify that it is having a (Department of Corrections) presence and supervision there to make sure that we don’t have problems within our state,” Dobrinski said.