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BioPharmaLink profile of Biomatik Corporation, United States of America, biopharmalink.com | Geron Corporation to Present at Banc of America Health Care Conference |... geron.com | Dialysis Corporation of America dialysiscorporation.com | Tanita Corporation of America | McArthur Medical Sales mcarthurmedical.com |
Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE: CXW) (CCA) is a company that manages public prisons and detention centers, and has concessions for many others. The company is the largest private corrections company in the United States and manages more than 60 facilities with a designed capacity of 85,000 beds. CCA was incorporated in 1983 by three businessmen and is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
[edit] Company BeginningsHouston Processing Center was CCA's first design, build and manage contract from the U.S. Department of Justice for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service) in Texas. Construction was underway on the Houston Processing Center in Texas when the INS notified CCA that it needed housing for detainees earlier than expected. Co-founders Tom Beasley and Don Hutto went to Houston to find a motel to temporarily house detainees. The owner of the local Olympic Motel agreed to a 90-day lease. After a team of contractors cleaned and secured the facility, an INS inspection team approved the facility for use by 86 detainees, scheduled to arrive at 11 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday. Hutto bought toiletries at Wal-Mart with his American Express card, produced photo ID cards and rolled fingerprints, while other corporate officers distributed sandwiches and helped security staff escort detainees to their living quarters. CCA's Houston Processing Center opened a few months later, in March 1984, and remains in operation for ICE today. [edit] TodayCorrections Corporation of America largest private corrections company in the United States. It manages more than 60 facilities with a designed capacity of 85,000 beds. CCA is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Incorporated on January 28, 1983, it is considered the founder the corrections management industry.[citation needed] CCA also provides just-in-time (JIT) bed space for temporary, emergency, short-term or long-term use. CCA has been recognized as one of the 100 best corporate citizens by Corporate Responsibility Officer magazine[1]. The national military magazine GI Jobs has highlighted CCA as a solid employer for veterans[2] and named it a 50 top military friendly employer in 2006[3]. As a partnership prison, CCA has been credited with helping Pinal County, Arizona, with being ranked No. 1 in a Money Magazine survey ranking the top 25 counties that have experienced the greatest job growth in the past eight years.[4] [5] CCA has not operated without scandals. In January, 2009, the company paid almost $80,000 to a Mexican undocumented immigrant who was injured in an automobile accident while being transported to Florence, Arizona.[6] Multiple deaths at a CCA facility in Eloy, Arizona, and attendant criticism of CCA's commitment to detainee welfare, have been reported.[7] To respond to news reports about the company, CCA launched the blog TheCCA360.com. [edit] Inmate ServicesEducation programs at CCA facilities include academic, vocational, and life skills opportunities. CCA offers addictions treatment programming based on objective assessments and customer identified need including substance abuse education, drug abuse treatment programs and support groups. Chaplain and religious services are provided at all CCA-managed correctional facilities on a voluntary basis. Inmate recreation opportunities include sports, arts, gardening and board games. The Hernando County Jail in Brooksville, Florida, is one of three CCA facilities to launch the "Alpha for Prisons" project. It is a faith-based re-entry and rehabilitation program run by the nondenominational Christian organization Alpha Ministries USA.[8] [edit] T. Don Hutto Residential CenterAmong 63 other facilities, CCA runs T. Don Hutto Residential Center, a former medium-security prison in Taylor, Texas, which, since 2006, has held immigrant detainees, under a pass-through contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of Homeland Security[9]. All detainees at the facility have been charged with illegal entry into the United States and have been determined to be expedited removal cases. While awaiting their deportation, many apply for asylum and are released on bond while awaiting court hearings. A lawsuit brought against ICE asserted that detainees were being held in inhumane conditions. However, since the resulting settlement in August 2007, CCA and ICE have made several changes to the facility, including on-site pediatric service for the children being detained, as well as making the toilets in their open cells private with the addition of a shower curtain. Additional visitation hours, hours of schooling and recreational opportunities were also agreed upon. On August 6, 2009, federal officials announced that T. Don Hutto would no longer house immigrant families.[10] Instead, only female detainees will be housed there. In September 2009, the last families left the facility and were moved to the much smaller Berks Family Residential Center in Pennsylvania.[11] [edit] Private vs. public partnershipDiscussions about the benefits and risks of public-private partnership for correctional facilities continue in the media, academia and think tanks. According to a 2003 report, research showed that private prisons save money, as well as put pressure on the public prison system, constraining the escalation of costs. Data showed that states using private prisons had more success in keeping public corrections spending under control than states with no private prisons. States with less than 5 percent of their prison populations in private facilities experienced a 12.5 percent increase in expenditures versus an 18.9 percent increase in those states with no private prisons. States with larger percentages under private management had even greater savings with growth in expenditures at only 5.9 percent during the period studied. [12] In a 2008 study, evidence indicated that states can save a substantial amount of money if they use a shared system of both privately and publicly managed prisons. The research showed that during the study period (1999-2004), states were able to save up to $15 million on their yearly corrections budget by using at least some privately managed prisons. The study was overseen by James Blumstein, director of the Health Policy Center, Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies. [13] Economic benefits to local communities that house private partnership prisons include employment of hundreds of local workers, payment of property taxes and utilities, and purchasing goods and services locally.[14] Commentators and human rights activists have raised concerns about the morality imprisoning humans for profit. Traded on the New York Stock Exchange, investors have an interest in keeping private prisons filled. Industry experts say a profitable prison must have a 90-95 percent capacity rate. In a 1990's report, Prudential Securities was bullish on CCA but noted, "It takes time to bring inmate population levels up to where they cover costs. Low occupancy is a drag on profits... company earnings would be strong if CCA succeeded in ramp(ing) up population levels in its new facilities at an acceptable rate".[15] Jenni Gainsborough of the ACLU's National Prison Project notes "[There is a] basic philosophical problem when you begin turning over administration of prisons to people who have an interest in keeping people locked up."[15] In a recent editorial, political commentator Bill Maher is quoted, "Prisons used to be a non-profit business... The CCA and similar corporations actually lobby Congress for stiffer sentencing laws so they can lock more people up and make more money. That's why America has the world's largest prison population -- because actually rehabilitating people would have a negative impact on the bottom line."[16] CCA lobbyists have worked pass or defeat private prison legislation in many localities, including Texas, New York, Illinois and Tennessee.[15][17] As of 2009, approximately five percent of all offenders in the United States are housed in privately managed correctional facilities. Independent reports project a steady increase in the nation’s incarcerated population in the coming years.[citation needed] [edit] References
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