LINCOLN — The State of Nebraska officially signed a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sept. 30 to convert the state prison in McCook into an ICE detention facility, officials announced Friday.

Under the initial two-year, 183-page contract, ICE plans to pay Nebraska $2.5 million each month to house federal detainees, adult males and females, at Nebraska’s Work Ethic Camp — a daily bed rate of $269.17 per detainee. In the second year, ICE payments to Nebraska would rise by 3%.

The Work Ethic Camp previously had an annual operating cost of $10.2 million and a daily bed rate of $199.50 per inmate. It housed only male inmates.

Gov. Jim Pillen’s office said the contract would annually net Nebraska about $14.25 million. ICE agreed to also pay Nebraska a one-time lump sum of $5.9 million for “facility renovations.” 

Projected cost savings

Kenny Zoeller, director of the governor’s Policy Research Office, which is largely Pillen’s main legislative lobbying arm, said in an email to state senators Friday that the arrangement is “designed to maximize fiscal benefit.”

“This new revenue model, when weighed against the current annual facility operating expense from general funds, demonstrates a significant financial advantage for the State of Nebraska,” Zoeller wrote.

Pillen’s office said the facility, which officials have said would be rebranded the “Cornhusker Clink,” will remain state-owned, and the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services will continue to run it. 

Corrections Director Rob Jeffreys signed the contract on behalf of Nebraska. The contract states Nebraska and ICE could agree to use the Work Ethic Camp this way for up to five years.

Pillen’s office now estimates that the state could begin accepting detainees before November. Jeffreys has said he hopes the facility can be a “Midwest hub” for immigration enforcement.

“I’m very grateful to President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for their strong leadership in securing our nation’s southern border and addressing illegal immigration through initiatives like this,” Pillen said Friday in a statement.

Minors are not supposed to be housed at the repurposed prison. Any young people sent there must be relocated within 72 hours and be housed away from adults during that time, the contract states.

Reached Friday, State Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood, chair of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, said he hadn’t yet reviewed the contract but was pleased to hear one was signed. He said was still supportive of using those facilities “to enforce the law.”

“I just knew that we were going to cover all of our expenses, but I didn’t know we were going to make that much money,” Clements said. “I’m pleased to hear that.”

He said the extra funds could also help Nebraska’s budget situation and that “every little bit helps” as the state continues to face a projected budget deficit.

‘Public has a right to know’

State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha blasted the contract Friday as “not just morally wrong, it’s unconstitutional” because of legislative checks and balances. She criticized provisions in the contract that ban videotaping, recording and public access to the state-owned facility, which would be contrary to how other state facilities operate.

“Nebraska taxpayers are funding this prison, and the public has a right to know what’s happening inside,” Hunt said. “When oversight is blocked, abuse thrives.”

State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha warned that ICE could withhold or deduct state payments for alleged noncompliance at the facility and that if detainees’ rights are violated, Nebraska taxpayers could be on the hook for any legal costs.

Hunt said that if ICE or state officials bar senators from conducting oversight, it would violate the separation of powers and obstruct lawmakers’ constitutional duties.

It wasn’t immediately clear why officials did not release the contract for 17 days after Jeffreys and an unnamed federal official signed it Sept. 30, hours before the ongoing federal shutdown. Pillen’s office and Jeffreys’ agency had denied multiple public records requests over that span, including one from the Examiner requesting a copy of the contract on Oct. 2.

Prison transition specifics

Attorney Jennifer Huxoll in the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office told a Red Willow County District Court judge Thursday that she did not know when the facility would open but that all state inmates had been moved out. A Correctional Services spokesperson could not immediately answer Friday specifically where the inmates had been relocated.

Zoeller said all remaining state inmates were transferred to other facilities last week. There were 186 inmates at the facility on Aug. 19 when Pillen announced the plan.

Huxoll had also indicated Nebraska had entered multiple contracts, though she did not specify with whom. Jeffreys’ agency is currently contracting with a Lincoln-based fencing company for $750,000 to build a razor-wire fence around the Work Ethic Camp, which Huxoll said Thursday was 90% complete. 

Zoeller said internal modifications will continue so Nebraska can house up to 300 detainees, up from about 200, and allow for virtual and in-person attorney visits and court proceedings. Providing additional housing and legal space will involve converting rehabilitative programming space. Zoeller said an intruder detection system had also been installed, and armed staff will constantly patrol the perimeter.

Staffing will increase from 97 full-time employees to 171. Zoeller said the new positions will provide coverage for repurposed spaces, housing units and transportation. Transportation will be reimbursed monthly at $10,816.67, with regular and overtime rates for on-call guards.

Minimum staffing levels required of the state under the contract have been redacted, as has information on handling emergency situations in receiving or discharging detainees.

“NDCS has developed staff training specific to the management of the detainee population and is exploring options to allow for the utilization of electronic translation services to assist non-English speaking detainees,” Zoeller said.

Speaker the Nebraska Legislature John Arch of La Vista could not be immediately reached for comment.

Separation of powers lawsuit

State lawmakers created the Work Ethic Camp in 1997 at the request of then-Gov. Ben Nelson, a McCook native and the state’s last Democratic governor. It opened four years later. The prison is primarily designed to reduce Nebraska prison crowding by moving out low-risk offenders and making space for more violent offenders elsewhere.

Thirteen McCook residents, plus a former state lawmaker, filed a lawsuit Wednesday to try to stop the transition and reopening of the Work Ethic Camp. They argue that because Pillen and Jeffreys did not receive legislative approval first, the transition of the facility violates the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.

Red Willow District Judge Patrick Heng will hear arguments next Friday on whether to grant a temporary injunction. He declined this week to block further action in the meantime.

State officials did not immediately answer whether they would begin to accept federal detainees before the temporary injunction motion could be heard. A temporary injunction would pause action until the lawsuit can be more holistically argued and evaluated.

In 1958, voters gave the Legislature authority over the “general management, control and government” of all state penal institutions. The latest lawsuit targets that constitutional provision as well as a state law that says state agencies can’t change or divert from the “use or purpose, kind or class” of public buildings in which lawmakers have appropriated tax dollars for.

Pillen has previously argued state law gives him authority through the creation of the Corrections Department, plus a clause in the Nebraska Constitution that “supreme executive power rests with the governor.”

Nick Grandgenett, an attorney on behalf of the McCook residents, told District Judge Heng that state law also does not give Jeffreys’ agency the authority to house federal detainees.

“At its core, this is not about immigration,” Grandgenett said Thursday. “This is about our constitutional republican form of government.”

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