The VT Digger reported Sunday the state’s corrections department will sign off this week on a contract with CoreCivic, a private prison operator. This contract will allow for the transfer of over 200 prisoners to the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility (Tutwiler) in October. CoreCivic began housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees over the summer. CoreCivic CEO Damon Hiniger stated that approximately 500 ICE detainees were already in Tallahatchie, during an earnings call to investors on Aug. 9. CoreCivic and U.S. have a contract to house the detainees. The Marshals Service began on June 14. The U.S. has the right to enter into this contract. Hiniger stated that the U.S. Marshals Service can place up to 1350 prisoners at the Mississippi facility, with the possibility of adding 1000 more people if additional capacity is available. CoreCivic says the contract is valid for two years and has unlimited extensions of two years. The contract is available to both the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBP) and ICE. This contract is one of two federal ones CoreCivic obtained this summer. Hiniger stated in the call that they “are scheduled to ramp-up in the second half this year and are expected contribute meaningfully to earnings growth through 2019,” Hiniger added. Tallahatchie County Sheriff’s Office houses detainees on the site, in addition to ICE or the state of Vermont. After a violent prison riot in spring, 48 South Carolina prisoners were moved to Tallahatchie. Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility currently houses detainees and inmates from six federal, state, and local entities: The U.S. CoreCivic spokesmen said that Marshals Service, ICE and South Carolina are all available. CoreCivic referred questions regarding the number of people held under each contract to each entity. In an emailed statement, Bryan Cox, an ICE spokesperson stated that ICE used the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility to temporarily house persons awaiting an initial hearing in response to a rise in border arrivals. “All persons temporarily held at the Tallahatchie Prison are transferred to an ICE Detention Center in order to further their immigration proceedings.” California also moved all CoreCivic inmates out of Tallahatchie prison in June. CoreCivic has a contract with The Federal Bureau of Prisons to operate a Mississippi prison, the 2,232-bed Adams County Correctional Center. A facility is also managed by the federal prison bureau in Yazoo County. CoreCivic hasn’t operated a Mississippi prison since 2013, when it lost the contract to operate the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, which houses 1,000 prisoners. MTC, a Utah-based private operator, was awarded the contract. MTC is now the only prison contractor for state-owned facilities.