La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona has had one of the most unusual histories of any prison in the United States. Built in 2008 to hold California state prisoners, it has since housed federal immigration detainees and is now operating under a contract with the Arizona Department of Corrections. That three-phase evolution reflects both the fluctuating politics of mass incarceration in the U.S. and the economics of private prison contracting.
Phase One: California's Overflow Problem (2008–2019)
La Palma was purpose-built during a period when California's prison system was facing a federal court order to reduce its dramatically overcrowded population. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had more inmates than it had constitutional capacity to house. One solution the state pursued was contracting with private prison operators to house California inmates in facilities located in other states — Arizona, Mississippi, and Nevada among them.
La Palma, operated by CoreCivic (then known as Corrections Corporation of America), accepted California state prisoners under this arrangement. The facility sits in Eloy, a small city in Pinal County that has become one of the most concentrated detention zones in the country, home to multiple Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, CoreCivic facilities, and GEO Group properties.
The California out-of-state contract worked for about a decade. But as California's prison population declined — the result of 2011's AB 109 realignment legislation, Proposition 47 in 2014, and Proposition 57 in 2016 — the state no longer needed to export prisoners. In 2019, CDCR formally ended its out-of-state prison contracts and recalled all California inmates. La Palma's first chapter was over.
Phase Two: ICE Immigration Detention (2019–2021)
When California's contract ended, CoreCivic quickly arranged a new contract: this time with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to house immigration detainees. La Palma's location in Eloy, already a hub for ICE detention, made it a natural fit. Eloy is home to the Eloy Detention Center (also CoreCivic-operated), the Florence Service Processing Center, and other ICE facilities. The concentration of detention infrastructure in Pinal County reflects decades of deliberate policy choices to locate detention away from population centers where advocacy organizations could monitor conditions.
The ICE detention phase at La Palma proved to be its most controversial chapter. A 2021 inspection by the DHS Office of Inspector General found serious problems: staff failed to enforce COVID-19 protocols during an outbreak, guards used pepper spray against peaceful protesters and then placed them in extended solitary confinement, a guard used a racial slur against a detainee, and the medical unit took an average of 3.35 days to respond to sick calls. ICE agreed with only 3 of the 8 OIG recommendations, leaving several structural problems unaddressed by the time the contract ended.
Phase Three: Arizona DOC State Inmates (December 2021–Present)
In December 2021, Arizona and CoreCivic signed a new agreement to use La Palma for Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry state inmates. The contract authorized housing up to 2,706 adult male inmates at medium and high security custody levels. This was a significant commitment — La Palma became one of CoreCivic's largest Arizona-contracted facilities in terms of bed count.
The transition from federal immigration detention to state criminal incarceration involved different oversight structures, different programming requirements, and different standards for medical care and conditions of confinement. ADCRR maintains its own monitoring and compliance requirements distinct from ICE's detention standards, which means the specific findings from the 2021 OIG report don't directly apply to the current ADCRR phase — but the facility's physical infrastructure, CoreCivic management, and many of the same staff remained in place.
Why Eloy Became a Detention Capital
Understanding why La Palma is where it is requires understanding Eloy. The city of roughly 18,000 people sits in the agricultural flatlands of Pinal County, about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson. It has been a detention hub since the 1990s, when the INS (predecessor to ICE) first contracted with CoreCivic to build detention capacity there. Land is cheap, local government has historically been receptive to detention contracts as economic development, and the location is remote enough to limit oversight while still being accessible to federal transportation hubs.
Today, Eloy and the surrounding Pinal County area house multiple detention facilities representing thousands of beds. This geographic concentration means that advocacy organizations, attorneys, and families often have to travel long distances to access clients and loved ones — a logistical reality that critics argue reduces accountability.
Warden Kline and the Current Era
In May 2025, Kristopher Kline was named the new warden at La Palma. Leadership changes at private prisons under state contracts are not publicly announced with the same level of scrutiny as changes at federal facilities, so it is difficult to assess what Kline's appointment signals about management direction. ADCRR publishes annual reports on CoreCivic-operated facilities as part of its oversight obligations, which provide the most accessible window into current operations.
For Families: What the History Means Today
If you have a loved one currently at La Palma, the facility's three-phase history is relevant background for understanding who oversees it and how to navigate concerns. The current oversight authority is ADCRR, not the federal government. Phone calls, money, and visitation are managed through systems that apply to Arizona state inmates, not federal inmates or immigration detainees — the rules are different from what applied during either of the two prior phases. For up-to-date information on visitation schedules, approved items, and contact procedures, contact La Palma directly or consult the ADCRR inmate information portal.