News Articles
This site contains over 2,000 news articles, legal briefs and publications related to for-profit companies that provide correctional services. Most of the content under the "Articles" tab below is from our Prison Legal News site. PLN, a monthly print publication, has been reporting on criminal justice-related issues, including prison privatization, since 1990. If you are seeking pleadings or court rulings in lawsuits and other legal proceedings involving private prison companies, search under the "Legal Briefs" tab. For reports, audits and other publications related to the private prison industry, search using the "Publications" tab.
For any type of search, click on the magnifying glass icon to enter one or more keywords, and you can refine your search criteria using "More search options." Note that searches for "CCA" and "Corrections Corporation of America" will return different results.
Sale of Texas Private Prison Falls Through
The City of Littlefield, Texas sold the Bill Clayton Detention Center (BCDC) at an auction, but the deal fell through. The BCDC is a 363-bed prison private prison developers talked city officials into building in this 6,500 person community. Mesmerized by the promise of prisoners from other jurisdictions whose incarceration would create hundreds of jobs, Littlefield issued $11 million in bonds to finance prison construction.
GEO Group ran the prison for about eight years, locking up prisoners from Idaho and Wyoming. But poor prison conditions sparked riots and a suicide while guards helped prisoners escape. That led Idaho to withdraw its prisoners in 2009 and GEO to cancel its contract soon thereafter. Littlefield was stuck $9 million in remaining debt costing $65,000 a month to service and a prison that it had to pay to maintain.
Littlefield City Manager Danny Davis had hoped to cut the city's losses by getting bid of at least $5 million at a real estate auction in July, 2011. So a telephone call with a bid of $6 million seemed to solve all of Littlefield's problems. Within a month the buyer backed out and the deal fell through. Now Littlefield is trying to work out a deal with some "interested parties," according to listing agent Jeff Conn.
Source: www.kcbd.com
