Arizona private prison contract awarded to Tenn. firm

[highplainsdem]

Source: Arizona Republic

The state Department of Corrections on Friday evening awarded a multimillion-dollar private-prison contract to Corrections Corporation of America, which has employed lobbyists close to Gov Jan. Brewer in its effort to win the bid.

CCA, of Nashville, will operate a 1,000-bed medium-security private prison in Eloy, with the option to run another 1,000 beds if the inmate population for serious offenders increases.

-snip-

Until mid-July, CCA employed Chuck Coughlin, an influential lobbyist who is a close friend and an adviser to Brewer. And, state lobbying records show CCA also employs Policy Development Group, a lobbying firm that includes Paul Senseman, Brewer's former spokesman.

-snip-

The contract calls for CCA to be paid a per diem rate of $65.43 per bed. The most recent information available shows the average daily cost per inmate in a state-run medium-custody facility in 2010 was $48.42. The award to CCA is 35percent more than what it cost the state to house and monitor inmates two years ago.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2012/08/31/20120831arizona-private-prison-contract-awarded-firm.html

[Angry Dragon]

1. Going private pays off

It just remains to be seen who it pays and pockets the extra

[oldsarge54]

2. ALEC at Work

For profit prisons drafted the legislation and pushed propaganda to create the anti-illegals attitudes on the Republicans. This is proof positive that bribery and propaganda/lies work in the USA. We've been had. To heck with the war on public servants, it is the corporations sucking at the public teat.

[highplainsdem]

4. Welcome to DU, oldsarge54! Yes, this is ALEC at work. CCA has

been given tremendous influence over states' policies through ALEC as well as individual lobbyists.

Since you're new to DU and interested in ALEC, I want to give you a link to the very large topic on ALEC that I started in March of last year on the old version of this board:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x591230

That has hundreds of replies, most of them with more links to information about ALEC's dangerous influence, from the voter suppression laws that we've heard so much about to the private prison industry.

[Scuba]

3. Shameful. Just shameful.

[SoapBox]

5. Rotten, rotten, rotten to the core...

this whole "private" prison thing.

Maybe, just maybe some of it wouldn't be a bad thing...but, as it stands now, the Crooks and Thieves are lining up at the government Trough to slurp up big bucks. And of course, their Crook and Thieve buddies (Bagger Brewer) are more than happy to funnel them YOUR tax dollars.

[Sunlei]

6. look at what their stock has done over 10 years

http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:CXW#

This is the reason America has more in prisons than the entire world combined.

The states would be less broke if they just handed over 70.00 a day to every citizen.

[Grammy23]

7. And it begs the question---

What other areas can be done "better" by the private sector? They have done a number on us by taking over the prisons and you can bet their sights are on what other areas of our society are ripe for the picking. Policing, fire fighting? Education? Clean water? My god, it is enough to give you the heebeejeebies wondering what else they have up their sleeves. We have a company here in Florida that does road building and they have had scandal after scandal. Sad to say when I drive down the interstate, I still see their trucks and workmen out there doing the construction & repairs. Will we ever learn?