Northwest Detention Center

A GEO Transport bus arrives from the Northwest Detention Center to pick up detained people from the ICE office at the 511 NW Broadway federal building in Portland, Oregon.

Northwest Detention Center is a privately-run detention center located on the tide flats of the Port of Tacoma in Tacoma, Washington, USA. The detention center is operated by the GEO Group on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.[1] The NWDC's current capacity is 1575, making it one of the largest detention centers in the United States.[2] Numerous hunger strikes have been launched by inmates of the NWDC to protest the Center's poor conditions. Detainees have repeatedly reported overcrowding, a lack of medical attention, and severely unsanitary conditions, especially during COVID-19: "they're not even offering us soap."[3]

The prison is expected to close in 2025 when GEO's contract with ICE expires, as the state has passed a law banning private detention facilities.[4]

  1. ^ "Northwest Detention Center." GEO Group. Retrieved on November 22, 2010.
  2. ^ "About the NW Detention Center | Northwest Immigrant Rights". www.nwirp.org. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  3. ^ Raff, Jeremy. "'Don't Let Us Die in Here': Coronavirus in ICE Detention - The Atlantic". www.theatlantic.com. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  4. ^ "Northwest detention center in Tacoma slated to close under bill passed by Legislature". The Seattle Times. 2021-03-31. Retrieved 2021-05-08.