The head of a privately operated immigration detention center in South Georgia has retired.
Warden Bill Spivey left his post at Stewart Detention Center last month, according to CoreCivic, the Nashville-based corrections company that operates the facility through agreements with Stewart County and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Spivey’s retirement followed the suicide of a detainee in one of the detention center’s solitary confinement cells in May. A CoreCivic spokesman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Spivey’s departure wasn’t related to that incident.
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“Warden Spivey retired of his own accord recently,” CoreCivic Jonathan Burns said. “His leadership and professionalism will be missed and CoreCivic wishes him all the best in his retirement.”
Stewart has room for about 1,750 beds, and CoreCivic employs roughly 350 people there.
Spivey, who worked for CoreCivic for more than 20 years, served as warden, assistant warden or administrator at the Bay Correctional Facility in Panama City, Fla.; McRae Correctional Facility in McRae, Ga.; and the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas. He joined CoreCivic in 1994 as a correctional center psychologist.
Burns said his company is evaluating candidates to replace Spivey. In the meantime, Assistant Warden Troy Pollock, who has been in that role at the facility since 2016, is serving as acting warden at Stewart. He retired from the Kentucky Department of Corrections as a deputy warden in 2012 after spending more than 20 years with the agency. He has also served in other leadership positions at other CoreCivic facilities since 2012.
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