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Northwest Detention Center is a privately-run detention center located on the tide flats of the

Port of Tacoma The Port of Tacoma is an independent seaport located in Tacoma, Washington. The port was created by a vote of Pierce County citizens on November 5, 1918. The ''Edmore'' was the first ship to call at the port in 1921. The port's marine cargo opera ...

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

, USA. The detention center is operated by the

GEO Group The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the company's f ...

on behalf of the

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

. The NWDC's current capacity is 1575, making it one of the largest detention centers in the United States. Numerous hunger strikes have been launched by inmates of the NWDC to protest the Center's poor conditions. Detainees have repeatedly reported overcrowding, a lack of medical attention, and severely unsanitary conditions, especially during COVID-19: "they're not even offering us soap." The prison is expected to close in 2025 when GEO's contract with ICE expires, as the state has passed a law banning private detention facilities.

History

The detention center opened in 2004 by

Correctional Services Corporation Correctional Services Corporation (CSC), originally Esmor Correctional Corporation, was a correctional firm founded by James F. Slattery in 1987. It was located in Sarasota, Florida, USA, and traded on the NASDAQ (NASDAQ NMS:CSCQ). It had been a c ...

(CSC) under a contract with The

US Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

. In 2005, CSC was purchased by the

, thus acquiring the Northwest Detention Center. In June 2008, the

Seattle University School of Law Seattle University School of Law, or Seattle Law School, or SU Law (formerly University of Puget Sound School of Law) is the law school affiliated with Seattle University, the Northwest's largest independent university. The School is accredite ...

's International Human Rights Clinic published an investigation on the NWDC concluding that conditions they found, "violate both international human rights law and domestic Constitutional protections." A contract with

Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

(ICE) expanded the detention center's housing capacity in 2009, making it the largest detention center owned by GEO Group on the West Coast. In March 2014, inmates launched a hunger strike to protest conditions at NWDC. According to ICE, 750 detainees had refused meals. House Representative

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——— ...

(D-9) criticized the NWDC in an interview with ''The Stranger'' in May, calling for improvement of the "shocking" conditions. Protesters are calling for better food, speedier trials, lower commissary prices, and increased wages for labor. In April 2015, guards allegedly beat Alfredo Rodriguez, an undocumented Honduran immigrant in his 60s. Rodriguez had reportedly criticized a guard for mistreating an inmate who was mopping. Rodriguez has since been deported, and Jennifer Lesmez, who represents six detainees who witnessed the incident, says some were threatened with retaliation if they complained. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Andrew Muñoz disputed the account, adding that "ICE policies forbid retaliation" toward detainees. In October 2015, the GEO Group renewed a ten-year contract with ICE. The contract pays GEO for almost 1,200 beds daily, regardless if they are used. On August 18, 2016, the U.S. Justice Department announced that they would end privatization of federal prisons, however this would not affect immigrant detention centers, which were 62% privately operated in 2014 compared to 8% of federal prisoners. Geo stocks declined sharply after the announcement. On September 20, 2017 WA State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit against GEO Group, Inc., the private prison company that runs Tacoma's Northwest Detention Center (NWDC). The lawsuit alleges that GEO Group, Inc., the second-largest private prison provider in the country, has for years violated Washington State's minimum wage law, paying its workers $1 per day or in some instances, with snacks and extra food. "Let's be honest about what's going on," said Ferguson, speaking at a downtown Seattle news conference. "GEO has a captive population of vulnerable individuals who cannot easily advocate for themselves. This corporation is exploiting those workers for their own profits." On July 13, 2019 an armed individual allegedly attempted to attack the detention center with a rifle and threw incendiary devices. The individual was killed during a confrontation with law enforcement. Four Tacoma police officers were placed on paid administrative leave. On April 17, 2020, a group of female detainees began a hunger strike to protest the dangerous conditions they faced at the NWDC during the COVID-19 epidemic. The women reported severe overcrowding, a lack of access to medical care, and total disregard for sanitation.

References

External links

Northwest Detention Center on the GEO Group websiteNorthwest Detention Center on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website

Inside Tacoma's NWDC
{coord, 47, 14, 59, N, 122, 25, 19, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-WA Buildings and structures in Tacoma, Washington Prisons in Washington (state) GEO Group Immigration detention centers and prisons in the United States 2004 establishments in Washington (state)