The modern U.S. private prison system’s first customer was the United States federal government itself.

Today’s leader in the for-profit industry, the Corrections Corporation of America, opened the Houston Processing Center in 1984 to serve the needs of what became the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Since then, the private correctional industry and the federal government’s apparent need for private facilities has grown: between CCA and the other private correctional giant, GEO Group, the United States government contracts for over forty facilities, and the corporations have expanded their reach to provide services to state, county, and local law enforcement agencies.

As part of MuckRock’s ongoing Private Prisons project, Freedom of Information Act requests have been submitted to federal agencies for every one of their private facilities. Track them via our interactive map, and if you follow them from their request page, you’ll be updated when as documents come in.

Small green = GEO Group locations
Small blue = Corrections Corporation locations

As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me at Beryl@muckrockrock.com.

This piece is part of the Private Prison Project

Header image of Adelanto Detention Center via Remedy Bail Bonds