Rivers Correctional Institution at a glance
Rivers Correctional Institution’s contract with the Bureau of Prisons ended on March 31, 2021, because the Bureau chose not to rebid it, as the owner, GEO Group, announced on November 23, 2020. The Winton, North Carolina prison had held federal prisoners for about twenty years; in the Inspector General’s 2016 review, roughly half came from the District of Columbia. GEO carried it as idle through June 30, 2026; a five-year ICE contract to turn it into an immigration processing center took effect on August 1, 2026, and GEO expects the activation to be finished by the end of 2026. When checked on September 18, 2026, ICE’s own list of North Carolina detention facilities did not include Winton, and Rivers was absent from the Bureau’s roster. This page carries no mailing, deposit, visiting or telephone details for it.
Each row cites a dated record, listed in the caption.
| Official name | Rivers Correctional Institution, as the Inspector General named it; GEO calls it Rivers Correctional Facility |
|---|---|
| Status | Bureau contract ended March 31, 2021. Absent from the Bureau’s institution roster, checked September 18, 2026. |
| Operated by | The GEO Group, Inc., which owns it |
| Location | Winton, North Carolina |
| Security level | Low (GEO’s 2020 annual report; the D.C. Corrections Information Council, 2020). GEO’s report for 2001, under its former name, listed it as low/minimum. |
| Held | Adult men: low-security men from Washington, D.C., alongside non-citizens (Inspector General, 2016) |
| Bureau relationship | Contract prison from its opening in March 2001 to March 31, 2021. The first contract had a three-year base and seven one-year options; the second, from April 2011, a four-year base and three two-year renewals. The Bureau did not rebid it. |
| Now | Being readied for ICE: GEO’s five-year ICE contract took effect August 1, 2026, with activation expected by the end of 2026 (GEO, August 6, 2026). Not on ICE’s detention facility list for North Carolina, checked September 18, 2026. |
| Finding someone | Use the Bureau’s Inmate Locator |
On this page
What happened to Rivers Correctional Institution?
- 1997. Congress moved the District of Columbia’s sentenced felons into the Bureau’s care and told it to “house, in private contract facilities” at least half of them by September 30, 2003 (D.C. Code § 24-101(c)(1)).
- March 2001. Opened. Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, as GEO was then named, designed, built and managed the 1,200-bed prison for the Bureau under a three-year contract with seven one-year options.
- April 2011. The last contract began: four years, then three two-year renewal options.
- November 20, 2020. The Bureau told GEO it would not rebid the contract; GEO announced it on November 23.
- March 31, 2021. The contract ended.
- 2021 to June 2026. Listed as idle in GEO’s annual and quarterly reports.
- July 29, 2026. GEO announced a five-year ICE support-services contract to activate an immigration processing center at the site.
- August 1, 2026. The ICE contract took effect; on August 6 GEO said it expected the activation to be completed by the end of 2026.
Where are the people who were held at Rivers?
In other federal institutions, or released; no record we read says where the men from Rivers went. Those sentenced in the District’s courts stayed in the federal system by law, since D.C. Code § 24-101(a) requires the Bureau to designate them to a facility “operated or contracted for by the Bureau of Prisons,” and the Bureau computes their sentences under its separate District of Columbia manual, which our page on D.C. sentence computation covers.
Search the Bureau’s Inmate Locator with a first and last name together or a register number. Our inmate locator guide walks through the screens, and our page on federal prison transfers covers how the Bureau moves people.
What was Rivers Correctional Institution?
A GEO-owned low-security prison for men, 212 miles from Washington by the Corrections Information Council’s measure, that served two populations at once. The Inspector General recorded in 2016 that Rivers was an exception to the Bureau’s usual contract-prison rule because it “also houses low security adult males from Washington, D.C.” (Report 16-06 at p. 1 n.8). Its appendix adds that “Since Rivers housed inmates to be released and returned to the Washington, D.C., area, it also had reentry and drug abuse programs,” along with courses in commercial driving, building construction technology and computer applications, and a work program in which prisoners repaired used wheelchairs for people in need around the world (at p. 48).
Who inspected Rivers, and what did they find?
After visiting during its 2014–2015 fieldwork and comparing contract prisons on fiscal 2011 to 2014 data, the Inspector General found Rivers had the highest rates among them of contraband finds other than cell phones, assaults on staff, uses of force and positive drug tests, and the lowest rate of phone monitoring (Report 16-06 at p. 15 n.31). On that last point, staff told the office that one full-time translator and one other employee monitored Spanish-language calls on top of their other duties and could not reach every call that should have been monitored (at p. 25).
The District’s Corrections Information Council inspected on July 9 and 10, 2019. Its report of July 20, 2020 records concerns from D.C. prisoners about “ongoing tension with ICE detainees,” limited programming, and restricted movement more like a high-security prison than a low one.
Federal prisons still operating in North Carolina
Four, all on one campus at Butner and all in the Bureau’s Mid-Atlantic Region on the roster checked September 18, 2026: FCI Butner Low, FCI Butner Medium I, FCI Butner Medium II and FMC Butner. Our North Carolina federal prisons page covers each, and our explainer on prison closures and deactivations lists announced closings. The Bureau designates; none is suggested here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Rivers Correctional Institution still open?
Not as a federal prison. The Bureau’s contract ended on March 31, 2021, GEO listed the buildings as idle through June 30, 2026, and Rivers was absent from the Bureau’s roster checked September 18, 2026. An ICE contract for the site took effect on August 1, 2026.
Why did the Bureau end the Rivers contract?
The Bureau told GEO on November 20, 2020 that it would not rebid the contract, whose last renewal ran to March 31, 2021. GEO’s filing gives no reason from the Bureau; its announcement pointed to a decline in federal prison populations.
Why were so many people at Rivers from Washington, D.C.?
Congress ordered the District’s Lorton prison complex closed by the end of 2001 and moved its sentenced felons into the Bureau’s care, ordering at least half into private contract facilities by September 30, 2003. About half of Rivers’ population came from the District, the Inspector General found.
Is Rivers becoming an ICE detention center?
It is being prepared as one. GEO’s five-year support-services contract with ICE took effect on August 1, 2026, and on August 6 GEO said it expected to finish activating the Winton site by the end of 2026. ICE’s list of North Carolina detention facilities did not include it on September 18, 2026, so this page does not yet call it an ICE facility.
How do I find someone who was held at Rivers?
Use the Bureau’s Inmate Locator with a first and last name together, or a register number. People serving D.C. Code sentences remain Bureau prisoners and appear there too. A city name in a result may mean a reentry office, so check the facility type.
Can I write to or visit someone at Rivers?
No. The Bureau has held nobody at Rivers since the contract ended in 2021, and this page lists no address or schedule for it. Find the person on the Inmate Locator first, then follow the correspondence and visiting rules of the institution that holds them.
Where we can help
For D.C. Code prisoners and others still serving federal sentences, we advise on problems inside a federal prison and on challenging a sentence computation.
Call 843-620-1100 or contact us to arrange a paid one-hour consultation about a specific situation. Calls are answered 24 hours a day.
Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. is a federal criminal defense and post-conviction firm based in Columbia, South Carolina, practicing nationwide. Mentions of North Carolina places on this page do not imply an office or a lawyer there.
Sources and currency
Federal and District records
- Evaluation and Inspections Report 16-06, DOJ Office of the Inspector General, August 2016, at pp. 1 n.8, 3, 15 n.31, 25 and 48.
- D.C. Code § 24-101(a)–(c), from Pub. L. No. 105-33, § 11201, 111 Stat. 734 (1997).
- Rivers CI Report, D.C. Corrections Information Council, July 20, 2020.
- Program Statement 5880.33, District of Columbia Sentence Computation Manual (July 9, 2010), at p. 2.
- ICE detention facility list for North Carolina and Bureau institution roster, both checked September 18, 2026.
GEO Group filings
- Wackenhut Corrections Corporation Form 10-K405 for 2001, filed March 1, 2002, at pp. 7 and 24.
- Form 8-K, Item 8.01, and its Exhibit 99.1 news release, both November 23, 2020; second-quarter 2026 results release, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K, August 6, 2026.
- Forms 10-K for 2020 (filed February 16, 2021) at pp. 13 and 147; 2021 (February 28, 2022) at pp. 15 and 35; and 2025 (February 25, 2026) at pp. 15 and 54.
- Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, filed August 6, 2026, at pp. 25 and 36.
Sources reviewed September 2026; ICE’s list and GEO’s filings were rechecked on September 18, 2026. When ICE lists a facility at Winton, this page will record it.
Reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Franklin-Best, Esq., Principal Attorney·September 2026