After years of advocacy, reporting, and legal action by RFK Human Rights, grassroots organizations, and detained individuals, Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center, a for-profit immigrant detention center run by the GEO Group, is expected to end its operations by the end of the year. Pine Prairie has long been plagued by egregious human rights violations, as documented in a 2021 human rights report and civil rights complaint co-authored by RFK Human Rights. In 2023, RFK Human Rights filed two federal lawsuits seeking accountability for survivors of torture at Pine Prairie.

On December 20, the Southeast Dignity Not Detention (SDND) coalition, a group of local and national organizations committed to immigrants’ rights, applauded Pine Prairie’s impending closure. After years of advocacy, reporting, and legal action by the coalition and detained individuals, the coalition is calling for the release of all individuals detained at Pine Prairie versus transfer to equally inhumane detention facilities.