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TEXAS

In the state of Texas, the expansion of detention facilities has been driven by both the increased number of immigrants being held in local jails and by private prison corporations, which are investing heavily in the border state.  The rural west and south Texas areas are becoming particularly dependent on detention centers as a source of economic development, despite the fact that some counties are reporting these centers to be failed investments, with the cost of subsidizing construction greater than the economic gain.  Currently, Texas is home to at least 7,000 proposed or recently built detention beds, including:

• LaSalle County, South Texas – a 500 bed private facility housing Marshals detainees
• Hudspeth County, West Texas – a 500 bed private facility also housing Marshals detainees
• Frio County, South Texas – a 1,020 bed private facility to house immigrant detainees on behalf of ICE (Immigration and Custom and Enforcement)
• Houston Processing Center  - a 494 expansion to a Corrections Corporation of America operated ICE facility
• Reeves County Detention Center, West Texas – a 1,000 bed expansion that, due to the fact that there were not enough inmates to fill it, was sold to the GEO Corporation to house Arizona inmates
• Laredo County – a proposed 2,800 bed facility to house Marshals detainees
• Limestone County, Central Texas – a 200 bed expansion to the private company CiviGenics jail for federal detainees

With the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) omnibus bill passed in December 2004, which authorizes 40,000 new immigrant detention beds by 2010, many predict that Texas, alongside other border states, will only continue to increase it’s construction of local jails and detention centers in an effort to secure these contracts. 

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