MuckRock wants to learn more about the operations of these immigration detention facilities, private and public. If you’re a group local to a facility and want to help our effort, let us know.

Last Friday, lawmakers made two major moves in challenging the use of privately-owned detention centers and prisons in the United States.

The Bureau of Prisons has announced four awards related to its operations at the Reeves County Detention Complex in Texas. In total, the agreements are worth more than $1.3 billion over the life of the contracts, which could remain active for up to ten years.

In response to our Private Prison Feedback Line, one MuckRock user asked us to take a look at what’s going on with a facility in Basile, Louisiana, and, in response, we’ve filed requests with the town for its previous agreements and payments from private immigration detention giant GEO Group.

Between a federal shutdown, ongoing litigation, and new efforts to change bad policy, there’s a lot going on in the nation’s criminal justice system. Here’s what you might have missed.