Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility

Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility
Interactive map of Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility
Location
Capacity730 males, 40 females
Opened1993
Managed byCentral Falls Detention Facility Corporation

The Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility was established in 1993 as the United States' first publicly owned and privately operated adult secure correctional facility and is currently operated by the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation. This special non-profit, quasi-public detention facility was developed for use by the United States Marshal Service (USMS) in the Northeast and was later extended to include United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from 2005 to 2008 and again starting in 2019.[1] Beginning in October 2011, the facility began serving the United States Navy, housing Navy personnel who have been placed in the custody of the General Court-Martial Convening Authority (GCMC). The facility operates at maximum security utilizing an architectural and high-tech design and construction containment system. A $47 million expansion was completed in December 2006 and increased the maximum occupancy from 300 all-male housing to its current capacity of 770 including a 40-bed unit for female detainees.[2] It is the corporation's only facility. In July 2026, the prison filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after claiming that it could no longer continue to pay more than $167 million in debt.[3]

Overview

The facility was the very first privately run detention center in the United States.[4] The prison was built in the city of Central Falls, Rhode Island. The city of Central Falls contributed funds towards its construction.[2] The prison was created to generate employment in order to replace industrial jobs from closed textile mills.

Officers are paid $27 an hour in conjunction with shift differentials and roll call incentives while completing their probationary first year of employment. Officers are given an additional wage increase upon successful completion of their one-year probationary period. Officers and Sergeants employed by the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility are represented by the Fraternal Order of Police lodge # 50.

Protest

Protests against the Wyatt started when the facility renewed its contract with ICE in March, 2019.[1] On March 28, a group of local activists from Central Falls led a march from City Hall to the detention center.[5] That summer, the Jewish organization Never Again Action organized a protest on July 3,[6][7] at which 18 people were arrested, and another protest on August 14, at which a Wyatt employee drove his truck into the crowd.[8] Since then, a variety of local groups have continued protesting the facility.[9] [10] [11] [12] The Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance (AMOR) is a nonprofit organization in Rhode Island that is advocating for the Wyatt to end its contract with ICE and for the prison to be shut down.[13] Beginning in 2025, AMOR has published reports based on inside testimonies, oversight inspections, and community research about ICE detention,[14] ICE transfers,[15][16] and conditions at the Wyatt.[17] These reports include documentation of the following:

  • Medical neglect[14][17]
  • Imprisonment for profit[14]
  • Hunger and food service violations[14][17]
  • Unsafe drinking water[17]
  • Racism and arbitrary punishment[14]
  • Theft of personal property[17]
  • Harassment and use of force[17]
  • Failure to provide access to legal resources[17]
  • Transfers as a tool of terror[15]
  • Transfers destroying due process[15]
  • Police influencing deportations[15]
  • Transfers separating people from families, lawyers, and resources[16]
  • Unsafe and unjust conditions[14][17]

Deaths

Hiu Lui "Jason" Ng, an immigrant from China, was an ICE Detainee who died while in custody of the Donald W. Wyatt Facility.[2] The official cause of his death was cancer. In February 2009, the Rhode Island ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ng's family, alleging “cruel, inhumane, malicious and sadistic behavior” against him. In 2012, the lawsuit was settled, with a multi-million dollar payment to the family.[18]

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency withdrew its remaining 153 prisoners from the facility in mid-December 2008, following an inquiry into Ng's death.[2]

The prison continues to house inmates of the United States Marshal Service and of the United States Navy's General Court-Martial Convening Authority (GCMC), and on March 10, 2019, it renewed its contract with ICE.[1][19]

Escapes

James Morales was discovered missing from the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls on Saturday, Dec. 31 2016, at around 10 p.m. He had been detained at the facility since Dec. 3, 2015, on federal criminal charges brought in U.S. District Court in Worcester, Massachusetts.[20]

Morales was captured five days after his escape by a Massachusetts State Trooper and two Somerville Police detectives in Somerville following a foot pursuit, after Morales attempted to rob a Bank of America in Somerville, Mass.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Wyatt Detention Facility: A timeline of events leading to protests, arrests, and truck driver incident". Providence Journal. Archived from the original on 2020-12-16. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "RI mayor fires prison leader for Guantanamo remark". Boston Herald. 2009-04-28.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  3. ↑ Church, Steven (2026-07-10). "Rhode Island Jail Operator Files Bankruptcy to Cut Bond Debt". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved 2026-07-11.
  4. ↑ James L L Dickerson (2010). Inside America's Concentration Camps: Two Centuries of Internment and Torture. Chicago Review Press. p. 260. ISBN 9781569767481. Retrieved 2013-09-06. The Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility, the first privately owned detention center in the country, was built to house about six hundred federal prisoners designated by the U.S. Marshals Service as meeting one of three criteria: detainees awaiting trial on immigration charges, detainees awaiting deportation, or detainees awaiting transportation into the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
  5. ↑ "Protesters, Central Falls officials seek Wyatt shutdown over ICE detainees' return". Providence Journal. Archived from the original on 2019-03-30. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  6. ↑ "18 arrested in Never Again protest of Wyatt's ICE role". Providence Journal. July 2, 2019. Retrieved July 7, 2019.
  7. ↑ "18 arrested during immigration protest at Wyatt Detention Facility". WPRI Eyewitness News. July 3, 2019. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Corrections Officer Who Struck Rhode Island Protesters with Pickup Truck Resigns".
  9. ↑ "Protesters call for Wyatt's abolition". Providence Journal. Archived from the original on 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  10. ↑ "'Car rally' protests Central Falls jail, asks detainees' release because of coronavirus". Providence Journal. Archived from the original on 2020-04-13. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  11. ↑ "We Keep Us Safe: The election day march to shut down the Wyatt". Uprise RI. Archived from the original on 2020-11-19. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  12. ↑ "Demonstrators blockade roads to Wyatt Detention Center, Demand closure of the facility". Uprise RI. Archived from the original on 2020-11-18. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  13. ↑ "Initiatives: Shut Down Wyatt". AMOR RI. 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Report on ICE Detention at the Wyatt Detention Facility". AMOR RI. April 2025. Retrieved July 24, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Report on Unprecedented ICE Transfers from the Wyatt Detention Facility". AMOR RI. July 2025. Retrieved July 24, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. 1 2 "Report on Transfers: Where is ICE sending Rhode Islanders?". AMOR RI. November 2025. Retrieved July 24, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Report on Conditions at the Wyatt". AMOR RI. April 2026. Retrieved July 24, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ↑ "ACLU Settles Lawsuit on Behalf of Family of Wyatt Center Detainee Who Died in Custody; Suit Alleged "Cruel, Inhumane, Malicious and Sadistic Behavior"".
  19. ↑ "Wyatt Detention Facility | History". Archived from the original on 2014-03-26. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
  20. ↑ "Hunt for 'extremely dangerous' inmate goes national". Archived from the original on 2017-01-05. Retrieved 2023-09-15.
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