Perry County Correctional Center — Private prison with ICE/USMS history
Overview
The Perry County Correctional Facility is a privately owned and operated prison at 4805 Highway 80 East, about four miles east of Uniontown in Perry County, Alabama. Operated by LCS Corrections Services (Director: James Mullins), it has a 738-bed capacity and opened in April 2006. Despite its name, the facility has never housed Perry County prisoners — it was built specifically to house federal inmates for ICE, USMS, and at one point Alabama DOC.
Key Details
History
- April 2006: Opened with ICE and USMS contracts
- 2007-2008: Average daily population 273-279 detainees
- 2008: One death in custody documented (June 26, 2008)
- 2009: Vermont terminated contract housing 80 offenders amid “allegations of understaffing and inmates being injured”
- May 2009: Two prisoners escaped; 14-hour shootout in North Dakota upon recapture; facility took 11.5 hours to notify officials
- 2009: Alabama removed 250 state prisoners over “money concerns”
- 2013: Down to ~30 federal inmates for ICE and USMS
- ~2014: Global Detention Project records facility “ceased migrant detention”
Current Status
The facility maintains federal contracts but its current ICE detention population is unclear. The heatmap signals show Perry County with a score of 52 (highest in Alabama), with 3 IGSAs and budget distress indicators. Perry County is one of Alabama’s poorest counties, making it vulnerable to detention-as-revenue dynamics.
Controversies
- Vermont contract termination over understaffing and inmate injuries
- Dramatic prisoner escape with delayed notification
- State prisoners removed over financial disputes
- Built in an impoverished Black Belt county — classic pattern of locating detention infrastructure in economically distressed communities
Why This Matters
Perry County represents the private prison model in Alabama’s Black Belt — a facility that never served the local community, built to profit from federal detention in one of the state’s poorest counties. The budget distress signal suggests the county may be financially dependent on detention revenue, a pattern seen across the detention pipeline.