ICE inks deal with private prison company to operate eastern NC immigration detention center

ICE signed a five-year support services contract with the GEO Group to activate a federal immigration processing center at the GEO-owned, 1,320-bed Rivers Facility in Winton, Hertford County, WRAL reported. The site, which closed as a federal prison in 2021 after President Biden ordered the phase-out of private prison contracts, is expected to become one of the largest immigration detention centers on the East Coast and North Carolina's first dedicated federal immigration detention center. GEO expects the contract to generate about $80 million in annual revenue in the first full year of operations; Governor Josh Stein noted the facility is not state-owned and said he did not approve the transaction.