The Marana detention facility sat closed at the end of 2023, after Governor Katie Hobbs ended Arizona's contract with MTC. The state cited a declining population and the cost of the contract. In July 2025, the Arizona Department of Administration sold the building back to MTC for $15 million. In February 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement published a sole-source notice to reopen the site as an immigration detention center holding roughly 513 people, under contract to MTC. That reopening is what this campaign exists to stop. Local opposition has been swift. The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 1 against the proposed detention center. Representatives Adelita Grijalva, Greg Stanton, and Yassamin Ansari have demanded transparency from ICE about the contract and the facility's plans. The record from when MTC last operated the site is documented. Arizona Department of Corrections audits found broken security cameras, non-functional swamp coolers, insecure doors and windows on housing units, and inadequate perimeter lighting. The state recorded 36 deficiencies at Marana and fined MTC $53,885 for unfilled staff positions.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution opposing the proposed Marana ICE detention center 4-1. Local leaders stated they would 'watch this facility like a hawk and continue to look for every possible way to shut it down.'
Source: KOLD News / Tucson Sentinel
On 2026-02-27 the Arizona Mirror reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had published a sole-source agreement to reopen the Marana prison, now owned by MTC, as an immigration detention facility. Reporting cited capacity figures of approximately 513 male detainees in one document and up to 775 in another. This is the proposed reopening that the campaign exists to stop.
Source: Arizona Mirror
U.S. Reps. Adelita Grijalva, Greg Stanton, and Yassamin Ansari sent a letter demanding transparency from ICE on its plans for an immigration detention facility at the MTC-owned Marana site. The congressional pressure is part of a broader effort to halt the proposed reopening.
Source: Office of Rep. Adelita Grijalva
In July 2025 the Arizona Department of Administration sold the closed Marana prison facility back to Management & Training Corporation for $15 million. MTC has not publicly announced its plans, but Marana officials say MTC previously indicated the facility may reopen as an ICE detention center.
In late 2023 Governor Katie Hobbs ended the state of Arizona's contract with MTC for the Marana Community Correctional Treatment Facility, citing declining population and cost. The Arizona Department of Corrections framed the move as saving $15 million by ending the private-prison contract. The facility closed at the end of 2023.
Source: Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting (AZCIR) / AZ Mirror
MTC was fined by Arizona for failing to fill staff vacancies at its Arizona private prisons, with $53,885 of that total assessed against the Marana facility specifically. Chronic vacancies are a recurring pattern across MTC facilities (compare Mississippi and Texas).
Source: AFSC, MTC Rap Sheet
An Arizona Department of Corrections security audit of MTC's private prisons found that the Marana facility had broken security cameras, non-functional swamp coolers, insecure doors and windows on housing units, inadequate perimeter lighting, and broken control-room panels that had been broken for months and were not fixed 'due to fiscal reasons.' The audit recorded 36 documented deficiencies at Marana, most related to staffing.
Source: AFSC, MTC Rap Sheet