CoreCivic Offers Appleton $1.2 Million a Year to Replace Lost Taxes on Its New ICE Detention Center

CoreCivic sold the 1,600-bed Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, closed since 2010, to the Department of Homeland Security in August for $496 million and received a $536 million, five-year contract to run it as Minnesota’s first immigrant detention center. Federal ownership ends the property taxes the city, county and school district collected — CoreCivic paid $800,000 on the empty prison in 2026. In a draft memorandum of understanding, CoreCivic offered Appleton $1.5 million in 2026 and $1.2 million each year after; the document states it is not legally binding. CoreCivic says it expects to profit $75 million a year from the facility, and with the building in federal hands the state has little authority to inspect it.