OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A minimum-security state prison in the remote southwest corner of Nebraska that was converted into a federal immigration detention center began accepting inmates earlier this week, Gov. Jim Pillen said Thursday.
The Republican governor said the facility in McCook — a remote town of about 7,000 residents set in sprawling prairies between Denver and Omaha — was housing between 50 and 60 immigrant detainees as of Thursday. The facility is expected to reach capacity — currently 200 — by Thanksgiving, Pillen said.
Work is already beginning on the second phase of the renovation to expand the facility by another 100 beds to a total of 300, he said.
“I expect the second phase to be ready in the first half of the new year,” he said.
The facility served as the McCook Work Ethic Camp, housing approximately 180 low-status offenders who participated in education, treatment and work programs to facilitate them transition to life outside of prison. Prisoners there routinely worked on streets, in parks, in county and city offices, and even in local schools, and the program was often praised by state leaders as a success story in reducing prisoner recidivism rates.
These low-level offenders were transferred from McCook Prison. Several were paroled, paroled or simply released, but most were sent to other facilities, including more than 100 to community corrections centers in Omaha and Lincoln. Dozens more were sent to other state prisons.
McCook is about 210 miles (338 kilometers) west of Lincoln, the state capital.
McCook officials and residents were surprised when Pillen announced in August that he would turn the prison over to federal authorities for utilize as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration.
Officials from Nebraska and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have named the facility the “Cornhusker Clink,” a play on Nebraska’s nickname “Cornhusker State” and an ancient slang term for prison. The alliterative name is based on the previously announced internment camps “Alligator Alcatraz” and “Deportation Depot” in Florida as well as the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana.
Some Nebraska lawmakers have complained that Pillen, a Republican, acted hastily, pointing out that the state’s prison system is already one of the most overcrowded and consistently understaffed prison systems in the country.
To that end, former state Sen. DiAnna Schimek and thirteen other McCook residents have sued Pillen and the director of the state prison system, saying only the Legislature has the constitutional authority to control or manage state prisons or rezone the utilize of public buildings.
The lawsuit, filed in state court on behalf of the residents by the nonprofit legal advocacy group Nebraska Appleseed, sought an injunction to halt the conversion of McCook Prison while the case pending, but a judge denied that request last month. The judge also denied Pillen’s motion to dismiss the case.
According to the nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, nearly 60,000 people were in immigration detention as of mid-September — a 51% escalate since January.
According to TRAC, about 70% of those incarcerated have no criminal record. Many others are convicted of minor crimes such as a traffic violation.
