The Fight

On his last full day in office (Jan. 16, 2026 memo), outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin directed the Virginia Department of General Services to proceed with selling the shuttered Augusta Correctional Center to private buyer Moxie Asset Group, LLC for $3.25 million. The directive surfaced against a backdrop of DHS pushing to expand immigration-detention capacity in Virginia. Two different contractors had identified the Augusta site as a location they would buy and run as an ICE detention facility.

Incoming Gov. Abigail Spanberger moved within days of taking office (late January 2026) to rescind the directive and halt any action under it pending review — undoing one of Youngkin’s last acts and reopening scrutiny of how Virginia disposes of former prisons that could be repurposed for federal detention.

Key Details

• Site: Augusta Correctional Center, rural Augusta County (FIPS 51015), a shuttered state prison.
• ACLU FOIA reveal: ACLU national, ACLU of Virginia, and ACLU of North Carolina FOIA litigation (filed Oct. 2025) produced 98 pages showing ICE was actively considering seven new detention locations — Augusta Correctional Center among them.
• Local stance: Augusta County officials emphasized they oppose using the former prison as an ICE facility.
• Why it matters: This is the clearest example in Virginia of the prison-repurposing pipeline — a closed state prison nearly converted to ICE detention via a midnight executive directive, blocked only by a gubernatorial transition. It pairs with the Hanover warehouse block (hanover-va-terminated) and a similar proposal in Stafford County as the live VA facility-siting fights.

Sources

• Cardinal News: Spanberger rescinds Youngkin directive to sell Augusta Correctional Center
• Virginia Mercury: As ICE seeks to expand footprint in Va., Youngkin’s final-day prison sale draws scrutiny
• WVTF: Spanberger undoes one of Youngkin’s last actions — a would-be ICE facility
• ACLU: FOIA litigation reveals ICE considering seven new detention centers