CoreCivic sold Minnesota prison to DHS for $495.6 million after state rejected $75 million offer

CoreCivic Inc. received $495.6 million from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for a 1,660-bed prison in Appleton, Minnesota. The facility had been closed prior to the sale. CoreCivic offered the property to the state of Minnesota for $75 million in early 2025. The state declined the offer at that time. DHS acquired the site in late 2026, resulting in a price increase of more than $420 million in roughly a year.

KARE 11 investigators reviewed financial records and identified the transaction as the most expensive property purchase in Minnesota history. The cost exceeds the amount lost in the state's Feeding Our Future fraud scandal. Minnesota Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell described the final federal price as unexplainable. He stated that the agency was stunned by the valuation given the recent $75 million offer to the state. Schnell added that he could not figure out the jump in value despite the short timeframe between the two offers.

CoreCivic is headquartered in Tennessee. Company representatives told KARE that the federal government determined the final sale price through its own assessment process. They stated that the department did not negotiate the figure down to the state's previous offer. The company noted that the valuation process is standard for federal acquisitions.

CoreCivic has sold four prisons to the U.S. government this year. Those transactions total $2.2 billion. The company's CEO told investors after the second inauguration of Donald Trump that the firm anticipated its most significant growth period in company history over the next several years. CoreCivic donated $500,000 to the Trump-Vance inaugural committee.

The Appleton facility serves as a detention center for ICE operations. The purchase was funded by federal taxpayer dollars. The price differential between the state's rejected offer and the federal purchase price represents the primary point of contention for local officials and taxpayers. The state did not match the federal price after DHS announced its intent to buy the property.

The sale concluded after a review process by the Department of Homeland Security. The property is now under federal management. CoreCivic continues to operate other facilities under government contract. The transaction is part of a wider trend of private companies selling correctional facilities to the federal government at high valuations.