- CoreCivic’s CEO said the company expects a “sharp acceleration” in demand for prison and detention facilities under the Trump administration.
- The increase in demand will mostly come from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as Trump vows to crack down on immigration enforcement.
- The anticipated demand could lead to the reopening of idle CoreCivic facilities.
CoreCivic, the Brentwood-based private detention company, expects “perhaps the most significant growth” in the company’s history in the upcoming years, CEO Damon Hininger said during the company’s most recent earnings call.
The company, which operates prisons and immigration detention facilities across the country, anticipates a “sharp acceleration” in demand from U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement, or ICE, and the U.S. Marshals Service under the Trump administration, Hininger said.
“We are anticipating significant growth opportunities, perhaps the most significant growth in our company’s history, over the next several years,” he said.
Company officials on the Tuesday morning call estimated ICE, the company’s largest contractor, could need as many as 200,000 beds in response to federal law and policy changes, up from the 41,000 beds ICE is currently funded for.
“It feels like 150,000 to 200,000 is where they’re going to end up,” Hininger said. “Now, obviously, that is going to be driven by the budget.”
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He pointed to the several executive orders related to immigration signed by President Donald Trump and the passage of the Laken Riley Act as driving the increase in needed beds. The company may need to reopen some of its inactive facilities to keep up, officials said.
“2025 is likely to bring significant opportunities, particularly on the federal side, and these opportunities may require activations of several of our idle facilities,” Hininger said, adding the company “has already taken proactive steps, including capital improvements, preparatory maintenance and labor force readiness to prepare facilities for activation.”
CoreCivic could also see an increase in the number of people it houses in custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, according to the company’s officials. On his first day in office, Trump reversed a 2021 executive order that restricted the use of private detention facilities by the Bureau of Prisons and Marshals Service. That order led to the closure of the West Tennessee Detention Facility in Mason, Tennessee, Hininger said.
Meanwhile, a prison run by the company is under federal investigation. The U.S. Department of Justice in August launched a probe into possible civil rights violations at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville, the state’s largest prison that has been notorious for understaffing and violence since its opening in 2016.
Although CoreCivic is responsible for the management and operation of Trousdale Turner, the DOJ’s investigation centers around the Tennessee Department of Correction, as the state is responsible for the treatment of incarcerated people.
Trousdale Turner’s warden was placed on administrative leave at some point since the investigation began, The Tennessean reported Wednesday.
Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com.
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