Detention center in Estancia closing, 203 employees to lose jobs [View all]

ESTANCIA — The Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia will be closed over the next couple months because of a persistently low inmate population, eliminating the jobs of the 203 employees there or about half of the town’s population.

Employees were given a 60-day notice Monday and the news spread like wildfire, prompting a community meeting in the Torrance County Commission Chambers Tuesday where Warden Chad Miller of CoreCivic and other managers of the company that runs the center answered questions from town, county, state and congressional representatives.

Miller of CoreCivic — formerly Corrections Corp. of America — said the 27-year-old center’s population has long been under its capacity of 900 to 950 inmates.

A drastic drop in border arrests and criminal justice reforms have resulted in the detention center holding less than the 700 minimum needed to make it financially feasible, CoreCivic officials.

Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/1038107/detention-center-in-estancia-closing-203-jobs-eliminated.html