Overview
- The Department of Homeland Security opened and began using the Appleton Detention Facility on Nov. 9, and local attorneys and observers reported the first transfers of immigration detainees this week.
- The 1,600-bed former Prairie Correctional Facility was bought from CoreCivic in August for roughly $495–496 million, a price local records show is far higher than a $75 million offer CoreCivic made to the state in 2025.
- CoreCivic will operate the site under a five-year contract that the government says will cost about $536 million and that the company says will generate roughly $75 million in annual revenue from the facility.
- Residents are divided as some welcome the jobs and more than 500 expected positions, while opponents, immigrant-rights groups and local organizers plan protests and worry about detainees’ access to lawyers and transit from the remote town.
- Advocates and reporters say ICE has given limited public detail about who is held there and the agency’s facility list did not include Appleton, raising questions about oversight, transparency and how the site will change enforcement and removal operations.