ICE Detention Center, Baldwin, Michigan

May 4, 2026

The GEO Group is one of the two largest private prison operators in the United States. In 2025, due to new contracts with the federal government for ICE detention centers, they made record profits. The GEO Group is a major donor to Trump.

The GEO Group has had many problems in their prisons over the years.

Their private ICE prison in Michigan, North Lake Processing Center, is located in rural northern Michigan, near the city of Baldwin. It is the largest ICE prison in the Midwest, and can hold as many as 1,800 prisoners, with over 1,400 people imprisoned there now.

The prison was built in 1999, contracting with the State of Michigan to hold youth offenders. The State had to close it down due to complaints. It was reopened in 2025 to house ICE prisoners. Recently, it has been reported that there have been hunger strikes there. The news from inside is hard to get because prisoner families are allowed little or no communication with the prisoners.

The news getting out from the inside tells of the lack of proper food, lack of medical care, sleep deprivation (the lights are kept on until midnight and then turned on again at 5:00 a.m.), lack of outside communication, prolonged and illegal detention, cold temperatures, electrical outages, lack of interpretation services, and more.

In December 2025, a 56-year-old prisoner there died. His family has still not received adequate information on how he died. They believe it was due to lack of health care at the prison. He had lived in the United States for 30 years after immigrating from Bulgaria. He was arrested in Chicago in 2025 after he showed up for his routine Green Card hearing. His only “crimes” had been traffic offenses. He was sent to Baldwin where he died.

There have been protests at the prison ever since it was announced in early 2025 that it would be reopening as an ICE prison.