Immigration detention center in Gainesville to close
A private corrections company announced Monday that it will close a federal immigration detention center in Gainesville by the end of this month, citing a dwindling number of detainees.
Shutting down the North Georgia Detention Center could spell trouble for Gainesville’s economy.
As of May, Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America employed more than 130 people to operate the center. The payroll was $7 million, supplemented by about $295,000 in other local spending by CCA.
Gainesville bought the facility from Hall County for $7.2 million last year and entered into a lease with CCA to operate it. Eventually, the city hopes to redevelop the site for other purposes.
The detention center was recently holding about 150 detainees.
CCA spokesman Steven Owen said in a prepared statement Monday that the decision was made because in “recent years, we’ve seen a continuous decline in population” at the detention center.
The company said it will offer affected employees opportunities to transfer to other CCA facilities.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Monday that it would transfer detainees from North Georgia to other federal immigration detention centers in Stewart County and Irwin County.
About the Author
Jeremy Redmon is an award-winning journalist, essayist and educator with more than three decades of experience reporting for newspapers. He has written for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 2005.
