A privately operated $64 million, 1,086-bed prison known as the Otero County Processing Center, expected to open in Chaparral this May, is beginning to fill some 390 new jobs, the El Paso Times reported.

About 45 people out of some 341 interviewees were hired at a job fair held this week in northeast El Paso to fill positions at the new detention center that will be run for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by Management & Training Corp. (MTC), the Times reported.

Utah-based MTC currently operates 13 state and federal prisons in five states, including the 1,353-bed Otero County Prison that employs about 250 people nearby in Chaparral, according to the Times.

Of the 390 jobs being offered, 292 will be security guards who will be paid a starting wage of more than $10 an hour, Stephen Easley, MTC regional director in Georgetown, Texas, told the Times. The remaining jobs will be in the office, kitchen and maintenance, Easley said.

Job requirements include a high-school diploma or equivalent and no criminal record, and while experience in similar jobs is a plus, it isn't required because training will be provided, Easley told the Times.

According to an article this week in The New Mexican, the center is expected to admit up to 250 immigrant detainees a day and will generate more than $25 million in annual revenue for Otero County when it reaches full capacity.

The demand for new detention facilities has grown as a result of more aggressive immigration enforcement, The New Mexican reported.

Last year, according to Detention Watch Network, an advocacy group calling for the humane reform of immigration laws, the U.S. government detained 283,000 people and the number of beds for detainees increased by just 6,000, The New Mexican said.

Even before construction began on the Chaparral center, ICE had indicated an interest in expanding the facility to 2,000 beds, according to The New Mexican.

And as the number of detainees continues to grow, so have the complaints about their treatment in privately run facilities, The New Mexican reported.

ICE last year pulled all 600 of its detainees from the Regional Correctional Center in Albuquerque, citing serious doubts about the ability of its operator, Cornell Corrections, to provide a "safe and humane environment," the paper said.

MTC, which manages more detainee beds for ICE than any other private contractor, ran the Santa Fe County jail from 2001 to 2005. A U.S. Department of Justice audit found deficiencies during that time and the family of a man beaten to death at the jail sued MTC and the county, The New Mexican reported.

Immigrant-rights advocates also have complained about the treatment of detainees being held at the MTC-run Otero County Prison in Chaparral, the paper said.

Although the El Paso Times said the new facility is expected to open in May and The New Mexican said the opening is expected three months from now, ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa declined to tell the Santa Fe paper when it will open, saying the deal with Otero County hasn't been completed.

Zamarripa also declined to comment on any specific allegations of detainee mistreatment raised by The New Mexican, but said ICE regularly monitors complaints from detainees currently held in Otero County to make sure ICE detention standards are being met. 

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