Using the recent Cherokee Nation Prison Agreement as a case study, this Note explores the due process implications of a federally recognized tribe transferring its citizens to serve tribal sentences in out-of-state detention centers. Tribes in Oklahoma have grappled with increased detention needs following McGirt v. Oklahoma, a 2020 Supreme Court decision that greatly expanded tribal criminal jurisdiction. The impact of this decision led one such tribe—the Cherokee Nation—to negotiate a multimillion-dollar agreement with a privately-owned detention center and a Texas county government. Under this agreement, Cherokee Nation citizens can be transferred to the Limestone County Detention Center to serve tribal court sentences. This Note argues that the transfers authorized by the Cherokee Nation Prison Agreement, and others that may arise in the wake of McGirt, impose hardships on the transferred tribal citizen that invoke a liberty interest giving rise to due process protections.
