Prescott Valley has better fields of dreams..

Fain family abandons plans for prison
By Ken Hedler
The Daily Courier


6/10/2010 10:06:00 PM

PRESCOTT VALLEY - The Fain Signature Group announced Thursday afternoon that it has abandoned plans for any further consideration of a prison on family-owned land.

"The leadership team has determined that it will discontinue the pursuit of a correctional facility," stated a press release that Ron Fain, managing partner, issued via e-mail. "Fain Signature Group is not currently working with Corrections Corporation of America or any other correctional firm."

Fain declined to say whether opposition to the prison motivated a decision, commenting, "I would just let the press release stand."

He issued the press release four months after his brother, Brad, and father, Bill, told the Town Council that they would proceed with trying to annex and rezone their land off Fain Road for a future prison site. Father and son said they would let Prescott Valley voters have the final say on whether they want a prison in their community.

Mayor Harvey Skoog expressed relief about the announcement.

"My reaction is the community is uncomfortable with it (a prison), so let it die," said Skoog, who announced Jan. 27 that he would not support a private prison on the Fain property. Three other council members echoed those views during the council meeting on the following night and cited widespread opposition to the prison proposal.

However, former councilman Tom Steele, a vocal prison foe, indicated that he thinks the statement in the press release is ambiguous because it uses the word "currently."

"There is a lot of wiggle room in there," Steele said. "I don't trust the leadership team in Prescott Valley."

He noted the prison issue came up twice: first in October 2007 when Management & Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, disclosed plans for a private prison on the Fain property, and this past December when CCA of Nashville, Tenn., announced plans.

Representatives of both companies met with officials from the Prescott Valley Economic Development Foundation, which recommended the Fain property. But in both cases, Steele and other residents organized opposition, citing fears about bringing an undesirable element to the community and lowering property values.

While the Fain family would benefit from selling grazing land, Ron Fain has pitched the prison proposal as an opportunity to create jobs.

A private prison with 5,000 beds would create a total of 3,945 jobs - not strictly at the prison - according to an economic forecast Scottsdale-based Elliott D. Pollack & Co. issued in January on behalf of the foundation.

"Core to the economic vitality of Prescott Valley is a diverse job base," the Fain press release stated. "Fain Signature Group will remain committed and rigorous in its efforts to bring new jobs to the residents of Prescott Valley and the surrounding communities."
Ron Fain expanded on the press release by saying, "For jobs, we are going to continue to maintain our relationship with PVEDF and pursue industries that have shown interest in the region - not specific to the site."
The Fain family initially announced plans in December 2006 for an industrial park on 881 acres off Fain Road.

Prescott Valley Private Prison Resistance.

This via Ken at Private Corrections Institute. I guess someone offered private land for CCA to build a prison on, but CCA still doesn't want Prescott Valley.  They must not be prison-friendly now. Maybe there are too many humanitarians there for anyone to get away with a prison...or else they just came up with a better vision for their kids' future, and CCA knows they can't compete.

Good job, Prescott Valley Resistance.

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Prison proposal: CCA won't resume interest in Fain property

 By Ken Hedler

The Daily Courier 

2/16/2010 12:04:00 AM

(hit the link to read...)

CCA Tries Another Town for It's 5000 cage prison

February 12, 2010
Private prison interested in Camp Verde
By Steve Ayers
Staff Reporter

CAMP VERDE - Mayor Bob Burnside has confirmed that the Corrections Corporation of America has made a preliminary inquiry regarding the construction of a private prison in Camp Verde.

Burnside said he and Town Manger Mike Scannell met on Monday with CCA representative Bill Feldmeier to discuss issues related to zoning and permitting.

"It's an interesting concept that I have begun researching," Burnside said. "At face value it has a massive economic potential, but we will have to see how the public feels about the idea."

CCA had previously proposed a private prison in Prescott Valley. However, those talks did not get past the early discussion stage, according to Feldmeier.

"Right now we are simply asking questions and seeing if the Town is interested in having a discussion," he said.

CCA is one of several companies that operated private prisons making inquiries statewide in response to a request from the State of Arizona to build a 5,000-bed prison.

"The State is doing an RFP [request for proposals] to bring back Arizona prisoners being held in other states and house them in a facility in Arizona, which they believe will be a lot less expensive than transporting them out of state," Feldmeier said.

He said the company has a particular interest in Yavapai County, for several reasons.

"They like Yavapai County. They just like it. They feel it meets their needs of an employment base, employee satisfaction and what I would call 'livability,'" he said.

Burnside said CCA has expressed an interest in property near the county jail facility off Cherry Road and State Route 260.

http://campverdebugleonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=991&Articl
eID=25683

Prescott Valley chases out CCA!

This via Ken at the Private Corrections Working Group (I know I said I was taking sick leave - I just keep trying to clean up my mailbox, so I may be posting things in reverse order)...Congratulations to the people of Prescott Valley. Someday your grandchildren will thank you, once they know how close they came to this. Good luck - they're still going to work your town over a bit more, and may look for a back door.

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Plans scuttled for Prescott Valley prison

from ktar.com

by Associated Press (February 9th, 2010 @ 12:16pm)

PRESCOTT, Ariz. - A Nashville-based private prison operator is scuttling plans for one prison site in Prescott Valley.

A spokeswoman for Corrections Corporation of America said the company is no longer considering land off Fain Road for a proposed private prison because of opposition from the Town Council.

CCA spokeswoman Louise Grant said Tuesday the company remains interested in Prescott Valley and believes there is a very strong group of individuals who are supportive.

CCA reportedly notified the Prescott Valley Economic Development Foundation this past week that it was abandoning consideration of the site near an industrial park.

Grant declined Tuesday to disclose whether her company is considering other sites in Yavapai County.

Prescott Valley Prison Resistance

Now these folks put up some good resistance...but every town is different.

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Prescott Valley prison proposal all but dead By Ken Hedler, The Daily Courier Thursday, January 28, 2010

PRESCOTT VALLEY - The Town Council majority has taken a stance to oppose a private prison in the community without taking a formal vote on the matter...

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=77150

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Colleagues, public react to Skoog announcement

By KEN HEDLER 

The Daily Courier – Prescott Valley

January 27, 2010

PRESCOTT VALLEY - A private prison supporter and two members of the Town Council declined to comment on Mayor Harvey Skoog's announcement that he opposes locating a prison in Prescott Valley. 

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=77143

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Daily Courier - Prescott Valley

By Heidi Dahms-Foster

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 PRESCOTT VALLEY - Mayor Harvey Skoog said Wednesday night that he is going on the record as opposing a proposed 5,000-bed prison in "urban Prescott Valley." Skoog said he wants to see jobs in the area, however, and would support the prison in another sparsely populated county area... http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=77143  

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Prison price tag: $300 million  By Ken Hedler The Daily Courier 

Report itemizes jobs, economic impact, construction costs 

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

PRESCOTT VALLEY - A proposed private prison with 5,000 beds will be an economic boon by creating thousands of jobs during construction and operations and generating tax revenues, according to a Scottsdale-based economist...

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=77105

Prescott Valley Prison Push Poll Coming?

Here's an article from today's Daily Courier covering the prison proposal in Prescott Valley. The town council is considering paying a company $9,000 to push poll 800 residents on the prison. Don't know how representative a response that really gets. 

Meetings addressing this begin Thursday, January 21, at 5:30 in council chambers on the first floor of the Civic Center, 7501 E. Civic Circle. The work/study meeting is scheduled to follow a special and community facilities district meetings of the council.

Prescott Valley: Prison the Hope for AZ's Future?

Prescott Valley residents sound off on prison

By Heidi Dahms-Foster, Special to The Daily Courier

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Supporters, opponents let council members know their feelings

A standing-room-only crowd waited through an hour of regular council business Thursday night to air their views about a proposed prison in Prescott Valley.

Before the meeting, representatives of both sides met people coming into the meeting with pro and con information about the proposal that would bring a private prison with as many as 5,000 beds to Prescott Valley.

Corrections Corporation of America, based in Nashville, Tenn., approached Prescott Valley as one of the potential sites for the new prison. Brad Wiggins, senior director of site acquisition for CCA, said the prison would include a capital investment of $200 million as well as 300 to 400 construction jobs and 400 full-time jobs with benefits in the community.

The Criminal Justice Budget Reconciliation Bill authorizes the Department of Corrections to issue an RFP for 5,000 new private prison beds, according to the website for the budget committee. The RFP will allow awarding one or more contracts; permit the private sector to bid on all or a portion of the beds; allow the beds to be located at new, existing or expanded facilities; and specify a maximum contract period of 20 years.

Those who spoke in support of the prison said they mostly want to bring jobs to the community.

Jeri Ann Kooiman, who with her husband Dave owns a realty and construction company, said she saw several people as she entered the building who had lost their homes in the past year, were ready to lose their homes, and who had lost their businesses in the economic downturn.

"Their hopes and dreams of thriving in this community that they chose to call home are now gone," she said. "We come before you tonight to show you our support in bringing jobs to our community."

Kooiman also spoke to those who expressed surprise that the town would again consider a prison. Two years ago, public opposition convinced the council to turn down a proposal from Management & Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, to build a private prison at the same site.

"We ask you to educate yourselves, inform yourselves, and investigate every and all industry and company that comes knocking at our doors. An opportunity for jobs is on our horizon right now," Kooiman said. "Prescott Valley Economic Development Foundation has simply been approached to provide workforce and other information to CCA. We would be remiss if we did not follow up on every single lead for jobs in Prescott Valley."

Resident Jason Sudweeks followed up when he told the council that he had recently lost his business, and is in the process of losing his home. The father of seven children said he doesn't want to leave Prescott Valley, but he's discouraged by the quality of jobs here.

"I would welcome this prison, and I would be the first to stand in line to apply for a job," he said.

Former Prescott Valley mayor Carm Staker said she has lived in the community for more than 30 years, and has been continually concerned about the lack of jobs.

"I think it is so important to do everything we can to enable our young people, and our not-so-young people, to find jobs here in Prescott Valley," she said. "I urge you to support this correctional facility."

Speakers in opposition to the prison spoke passionately about issues including the kind of people a prison would bring to the community; the effects of the prison on infrastructure, water supplies and home values; strains on health care and law enforcement; and how many of the construction and other jobs would actually go to existing residents.

"These jobs and construction claims are fairy dust," said one audience member. "These companies have contractors and companies that supply them. If you think they are going to open a 5,000-bed prison with employees from this town, you have another thing coming. They aren't going to open up jobs like that for people with no experience in corrections," he said.

Resident Susan Orlick said she understands that people are concerned about jobs, "but that doesn't mean we have to sell our soul, and it doesn't mean those jobs are for our community.

"It doesn't seem right that we elect you again," she told the council, "and then you bring in this topic again. It almost feels like a betrayal."

A mother of a 4- and 16-year-old told the council that her family would have to move if a prison comes here.

"This is completely uncalled for. My children are prospering here. If you do this, no one is going to prosper. If you bring a prison here, we will leave, and so will many others," she said.

Tom Steele, a former Prescott Valley councilman who has launched a website to oppose the prison, raised a number of quality-of-life concerns and urged the council to "think long and hard" before approving a prison proposal.

Resident Brian Mulcahey agreed. "I think we can do better. This sounds like settling."

Brad Wiggins, senior director of site acquisition for CCA, spoke to the audience near the end of the comment period.

"A lot of what has been said tonight doesn't ring true," he said. He told the audience he would welcome an opportunity in a forum to answer each concern individually.

"This could be huge for this community," he said.

Resident and prison supporter Mary Mallory said she wants to see people continue to discuss the proposal.

"People want to work. There are pros and cons to everything, but attacking each other and badgering each other will not get the job done," she said. "We need to come together and find a solution that will put people back to work."

Residents will have several opportunities to hear more facts and express their opinions about the proposed prison in upcoming events. On Jan. 28, the economic consulting firm Elliott D. Pollack and Co. will present its study of the economic impact of the prison on the community to the Prescott Valley council in its study session at 5:30 p.m. in the Civic Center council chambers.

On Feb. 9 at 6 p.m., the CASA Senior Center at 9260 E. Manzanita Circle in Prescott Valley will play host to an informational forum on the prison.

Courier reporter Ken Hedler contributed to this story

AZ: Prescott Valley prison opponents launch website

Here's to Truth, Peace and Justice - may all prevail in the New Year.

AZ: Prescott Valley prison opponents launch website

By Ken Hedler, The Daily Courier
Friday, January 01, 2010

PRESCOTT VALLEY - Opponents of a private prison that might be located
in Prescott Valley have launched a website to fight it.

Former Town Councilman Tom Steele and Michael Hendricks, formerly of
Prescott Valley, recently launched www.noprisoninpv.com to mobilize
opposition. Steele said he established the domain name a day after the
Prescott Valley Economic Development Foundation issued a press release
Dec. 17 announcing civic leaders had met privately with
representatives of Corrections Corporation of America.

Steele, a Prescott Valley resident for six and a half years, said he
launched the site to educate the public, adding, "We are passing out
fliers in neighborhoods and businesses."

The website contains a link to a newspaper story, the phone numbers of
Town Council members, a YouTube video, other information and an e-mail
address for Steele.

Mayor Harvey Skoog commented Wednesday, "I have not seen it." However,
he acknowledged some constituents might have called him after they
logged onto the website.

"Right now, we are not debating the issue," Skoog said. "(Steele) is.
But he has been on the wrong side of many issues."

Town Manager Larry Tarkowski declined to comment on the website. He
said two weeks ago that the town government plans to commission a
telephone survey after CCA, based in Nashville, Tenn., conducts a
public meeting locally to discuss its plans.

CCA spokesman Steve Owen said he is unaware of the anti-prison website
and indicated his company is considering multiple sites for a prison
to house a maximum of 5,000 inmates, not just a proposed site off Fain
Road.

He added opposition to prisons often comes from a "vocal minority."

Meanwhile, Steele is using the website to urge people to attend the
first regularly scheduled meeting of the council in 2010, on Jan. 14.
He also filed a public records request at Town Clerk Diane Russell's
office to obtain e-mail documentation of contacts between the council
and CCA officials as well as other correspondence.

Steele said he met Hendricks through the Prescott Tea Party, which is
part of a nationwide movement that has spoken out against the federal
bailouts of auto manufacturers and banks, health care reform and
international regulations to curb global warming.

Hendricks, who now lives in Paulden but maintains two businesses in
Prescott Valley as well as having family here, said he has done
extensive research on private prisons.

"A lot of people that live in Prescott Valley are retired," he said.
"They came to Prescott Valley to get away from big-city life."

Hendricks said he is upset that Councilman Patty Lasker penned a Talk
of the Town commentary in the Daily Courier in which she cited the
benefits a private prison would bring, such as jobs. He added he
helped to get her elected to the council in 2009.

Lasker and Gary Marks, executive director of the economic development
foundation, were unavailable for comment.
Story and links at this URL
http://prescottdailycourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=76284

Prescott Valley: If They Build it, Who Will Come?

*Actually, the prisoners of private sector incarcerators are probably the least you need to worry about - the privates get the cream of the crop in most states - the first time non-violent offenders in on drug charges or hit multiple times for economic crimes (like bouncing checks, shoplifting, etc. People lose their freedom, kids, homes, and chunks of their lives trying not to hurt others while they do what they need to in order to survive. Frankly, state prisoners and their families are more decent folk than most people could ever imagine...).

Check out CCA's history. Its' been their guards who rape, abuse, and violate others once given the power to do so, not so much their prisoners. The CCA suits marketing detention centers and prisons to gullible, desperate communities across the country are complicit. Since it's so hard for prisoners to sue or even get emergency relief from abuse, corporate risk assessors must have determined that it would be more profitable to hire, train and staff on the cheap (and settle abuse complaints as they arise) than to make sure their employees meet even minimum standards before entrusting the lives of so many people to their care. That's the negative influence I'd be worried about letting into my town - if they can so easily dehumanize one person's family, why wouldn't they do the same to mine, if it profited them?


In the meantime, these town leaders should really boycott further invitation-only meetings with CCA, lest their integrity be compromised before they even know what they're getting into. That's downright anti-democratic.

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Officials to gauge public reaction to proposed prison

By Ken Hedler

The Daily Courier

Friday, December 18, 2009

PRESCOTT VALLEY - Town government officials plan to gauge public attitudes about a proposed prison before deciding whether to call for a popular vote.

However, they said any discussion about plans for a private prison in Prescott Valley is at best premature now. Public opposition prompted the Town Council against endorsing plans more the two years ago by Management & Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, to locate a 2,000-bed prison here off Fain Road.

"We absolutely do not have enough information," Vice Mayor Lora Lee Nye said. "There are more questions here than there are conclusions, and the educational process is paramount."

Nye, Mayor Harvey Skoog and Town Manager Larry Tarkowski reacted Friday morning to an announcement from the Prescott Valley Economic Development Foundation that Corrections Corporation of America is considering Prescott Valley as a site for a private prison. The company, based in Nashville, Tenn., is considering the same area off Fain Road.

"We have had 24 hours to think about this," Skoog said.

He clarified a quote attributed to him in a press release that the foundation issued Thursday.

"I support us getting jobs," Skoog said. "The question (is) whether I support the prison."

Skoog was among more than 60 people who attended an invitation-only meeting Thursday at the StoneRidge subdivision in which Brad Wiggins, senior director for site acquisition for CCA, spoke.

Wiggins reportedly told his audience of business leaders and public officials that a prison would be a $200 million capital investment that would create 300 to 400 construction jobs and 400 full-time jobs once the prison opens. Wiggins was unavailable for comment Friday.

CCA representatives approached the foundation, said Gary Marks, foundation executive director. He said other prison companies have contacted him as well.

The meeting with Wiggins took place the same day that the Joint Legislative Budget Committee canceled a meeting in Phoenix that included a review of a request for proposals for 5,000 private prison beds. The committee canceled the meeting because Gov. Jan Brewer called a special session of the state Legislature on Thursday.

The request for proposals (RFP) will allow awarding one or more contracts; permit the private sector to bid on all or a portion of the beds; allow the beds to be located at new, existing or expanded prisons; and specify a maximum contract of 20 years.

The deadline for awarding all contracts to private operators is June 30, 2010.

Prescott Valley could lose out to other communities, town government officials acknowledged.

"We don't even know if we are going to be the chosen site," Nye said.

The proposed prison has sparked some opposition since the foundation issued the press release Thursday.

Resident George Orlik said it is "astonishing" for town officials to consider a private prison two years after they encountered massive opposition. "I'm against it because it would marginalize the town," said Orlik, a retired New York City police officer who has lived in Prescott Valley for five years. "It would lower property values dramatically. It would bring in prisoners, murderers, rapists, pedophiles from all over the country."

The RFP for the private prison companies does not indicate whether the 5,000 beds would house minimum-, medium- or maximum-security inmates.(*)

The next step is for CCA to conduct a meeting to discuss its plans with the public, Tarkowski said. He added the council authorized him to hire a company that has worked with Prescott Valley in the past to poll residents on their thoughts about a private prison.

"A survey is only valid after the community has had an opportunity to become informed and then weigh in and give the council their opinions," Tarkowski said.

Prescott Valley's Field of Dreams: CCA?

Thought I put this up when I found it a couple of days ago, but it appears as if I didn't. There are already more articles on this now to post. Arizona's going to be booming with more prisons soon, and it won't mean growth for the corrections officers' unions - though they will no doubt be exploited to support this kind of development. The threat to privatize the existing state prison system looks like just a ruse to distract the unions from the real strategy for decimating them; I think the ADC's just going to keep doing rfps for new prisons as we continue to exceed capacity, and as old facilities decay they'll just stop creating new jobs and phase out state employees..

This is all pretty troubling. Look at Winslow, Wickenburg, the Tohono O'odham Nation and now Prescott Valley...tens of thousands of new prisoners are being planned for the state with talks about contracts stretching 20 years into the future...what kind of vision do Arizona's economic development leaders have, anyway? What kind of vision do those who comprise our legal system have, for that matter?  

We are so entrenched in this cycle of violence and retribution that we aren't even considering meaningful alternatives; we appear resigned to this fate, which means we've condemned our children to it. How can anyone consider a prison to be a gift to future generations? Once dependent on the prison industrial complex for their survival, they will have no reason to celebrate the day when institutionalized racism, classism, misogyny, and homophobia, among other things, no longer fill jails and prisons with society's misfits and malcontents.

The private prison industry is seeking out communities where they can be the main employer so they depend on perpetuating this system we have of punishment for poverty and color in America, regardless of whether or not it's just, effective, or humane. They don't want to reduce crime rates: if we really succeed in reducing crime because we finally begin to get to the roots of it, we'll put them out of business and these little prison towns under. 


Think about the implications of that. If the practice of mass incarceration was ever really threatened - which I hope it will be - townspeople in places like Winslow and Wickenburg would be pushed into advocating for the continuance of a system which destroys other communities in order to save their own.

The industry knows all this – their job is to market and justify incarceration as  punishment for a whole range of “crimes”, some of which are yet to be invented.  They fund a huge part of the wall of opposition to criminal justice reforms that would decrease incarceration rates. That's precisely why Israel's high court found private operation of prisons to be unconstitutional: the profit-motive has too much potential in it for gross violations of human rights to be perpetrated on prisoners, who the state has a special duty to protect from harm, and the private sector has a special interest in exploiting as cheap labor and consumers. I guess their constitution protects people better than ours.

So, here's the article that just triggered all that: more of the same from CCA. 


I hope people in Prescott Valley recognize that this CCA/town “leadership” meeting was carefully staged to allow CCA to control how they were introduced to the community; this invitation-only event would have excluded anyone who might have expressed dissent to the media covering it; that’s why the article reads more like a CCA press release than anything. This way they make it look as if the overwhelming majority of community "leaders" are well-informed and supportive of the idea before they hear opposing arguments or public opinion has a chance to set in. 


So, organize and register your resistance, folks, before it's too late. Once the prison is planted, CCA has moved in and their warden becomes the mayor, you can be sure that resistance to mass incarceration will be harder to mount, no matter how visible its negative consequences to the community may be.  Whether or not they agree with my stance on prisons, I do hope that at the very least the people of these communities don't let their "leaders" deal them out of invitation-only events that will change the course and character of their community forever. They should be in on planning their collective future from the beginning – not sidelined by CCA.

More to follow shortly. I’m still catching up here.
---------------

Officials discuss plans for private prison in Prescott Valley

Marks says it's different from 2 years ago

By Ken Hedler

The Daily Courier

Thursday, December 17, 2009

PRESCOTT VALLEY - A proposal for a private prison drew support from elected and business officials who attended an invitation-only meeting Thursday morning.

"We need the jobs," Mayor Harvey Skoog said in a prepared statement that the Prescott Valley Economic Development Foundation issued Thursday afternoon. "I support this 100 percent."

Skoog and more than 60 others who attended the meeting at the StoneRidge country club listened to a presentation from Brad Wiggins, senior director for site acquisition for Corrections Corporation of America. Wiggins discussed a capital investment of $200 million as well as 300 to 400 construction jobs and 400 full-time jobs a prison would create.

CCA, which is based in Nashville, Tenn., is considering a site off Fain Road for the potential prison, foundation Executive Director Gary Marks said.

Reminded of opposition more than two years ago to plans by Management & Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, to build a private prison at the site, Marks said, "It is a different project. This is just a response and a discussion and waiting for the RFP to come out."

Marks was referring to a request for proposals that the Arizona Department of Corrections plans to issue to recruit a contractor, or contractors, to house 5,000 inmates.

The RFP process faced a setback Thursday because the Joint Legislative Budget Committee canceled a meeting that included an agenda item for reviewing for RFP. The committee canceled the meeting because the state Legislature met in special session, and has not rescheduled the meeting.

The Criminal Justice Budget Reconciliation Bill authorizes the Department of Corrections to issue an RFP for 5,000 new private prison beds, according to the website for the budget committee. The RFP will allow awarding one or more contracts; permit the private sector to bid on all or a portion of the beds; allow the beds to be located at new, existing or expanded facilities; and specify a maximum contract period of 20 years.

The Department of Corrections has a deadline of June 30, 2010, for awarding all contracts.

The RFP does not indicate whether the prisons will house minimum-medium or maximum-security inmates, according to a staffer for the committee.

Support for the private prison could come from other communities in the state, Marks acknowledged. He added other prison companies besides CCA could be vying for contracts as well.

CCA states on its website that it was founded more than 25 years ago, and houses approximately 75,000 offenders and detainees in more than 60 sites. It has partnerships with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, nearly half of the states and more than a dozen municipalities.

This article was first posted at 4:40 p.m. Thursday. Watch dCourier.com for updates as this story develops.