I saw the story about the prison in Minnesota and wanted to check it before I got mad. There’s plenty of bullshit going around, and I don’t want to help spread it.
KARE 11 reported that CoreCivic offered the vacant Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton to Minnesota for $75 million in 2025. The following year, the Trump administration bought it for $495.6 million. I figured there had to be more to that story. [1]
There is more. So far, it hasn’t made me feel better.
The purchase agreement filed with the SEC puts the price at $495,639,588. The buyer was the United States, through the Department of Homeland Security, and the agreement is dated August 4, 2026. We paid roughly six and a half times the reported offer to Minnesota. The difference is $420.6 million. [2]
According to the email described in KARE’s reporting, the $75 million offer included the upgrades CoreCivic said were needed to reopen the facility. Minnesota passed over staffing and service concerns at the remote site. [3]
I went back further. Minnesota’s own 2018 architectural assessment lists CoreCivic’s proposed price at $74.1 million. That older asking price doesn’t establish today’s value. It does make me want to know what changed. [4]
CoreCivic points to the location and size of the facilities it sold, along with the cost and time needed to replace them. Management also said it had invested in Prairie to prepare it for reopening. [5]
I understand paying more to save years of construction. I’d still like to see how the government accounted for this building’s age, condition and remaining repairs. What else was available? What would leasing have cost? Did the people negotiating for us know about the $75 million offer?
CoreCivic told KARE, “The federal government ultimately determined the sale price following its assessment process.” [1]
Then the government should be able to show us that assessment and explain who approved it. Somebody decided this was a good use of nearly $500 million. I’d like to hear from them.
CoreCivic also expects to keep running the place. It announced a separate five-year ICE contract projecting about $75 million in annual revenue once Prairie was fully activated. Operating expenses come out of that revenue, and the company says contract terms could change with federal ownership. Buying the prison still leaves us paying to run it. [6][7]
Prairie was one of four facilities CoreCivic sold to DHS in July and August for a combined $2.2 billion. The company expected about $1.6 billion in proceeds after taxes and transaction costs. [7]
Six days after the Prairie sale, CoreCivic announced a $500 million agreement to buy back its own stock. The payment was scheduled for that day. [8]
The filing doesn’t trace individual sale proceeds into that buyback. But CoreCivic has explained the benefit to its shareholders. I want the people who spent our money to explain what we got.
I also wanted to know who owns CoreCivic. Previously called Corrections Corporation of America, it’s publicly traded. Its ownership disclosures identify investment managers including BlackRock and River Road among its major holders, with shares managed for funds and clients. The money reaches well beyond the people running the company. [9][10][2]
CoreCivic also gave $500,000 to the Trump-Vance inaugural committee. A donation alone doesn’t prove anyone bought a favor. But a company that helps finance a president’s inauguration should expect every dollar of a deal like this to be examined. [11]
Trump’s financial disclosures report trades in CoreCivic stock, too. The Trump Organization says outside brokerage firms control those purchases and that he has no control over them. That explanation belongs in the story. So does the question of why a president should have a financial interest in a company doing this much business with his administration. [12]
Those disclosures don’t establish that Trump chose the trades or directed this purchase price. What we already know is enough to demand an independent investigation.
In September, a broader Government Accountability Office review called for ICE to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for its detention expansion. DHS agreed. ICE said it did not expect to finish the plan until August 31, 2027. [13]
I read that date twice. We’re spending billions on the expansion now. I’d like the plan early enough to help decide what we buy.
I spent eleven years in medical practice administration. I support universal healthcare, and I’m willing to pay taxes for things people need. Being willing to pay taxes doesn’t mean I’m willing to have someone piss them away. If you’re responsible for other people’s money, explaining a purchase is part of your job.
Maybe there’s a defensible reason for some of this price difference. Maybe it was terrible negotiating, a rushed decision, favoritism or something worse. Let an independent investigation tell us what happened.
If the purchase holds up, explain it with the documents. If it doesn’t, tell us who was responsible, what can be recovered and how we keep it from happening again. I’d want those answers with a Democrat in the White House, too. I don’t want public money wasted just because I like the person wasting it.
I think something stinks in Appleton. Show us the fucking appraisal.
EDW•
