By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Updated 3/8/2012 12:37 PM
WASHINGTON – At a time when states are struggling to reduce bloated
prison populations and tight budgets, a private prison management
company is offering to buy prisons in exchange for various
considerations, including a controversial guarantee that the governments
maintain a 90% occupancy rate for at least 20 years.
The $250 million proposal, circulated by the Nashville-based Corrections
Corporation of America to prison officials in 48 states, has been
blasted by some state officials who suggest such a program could
pressure criminal justice officials to seek harsher sentences to
maintain the contractually required occupancy rates.
"You don't want a prison system operating with the goal of maximizing
profits," says Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and
advocate for reducing prison populations through less costly diversion
programs. "The only thing worse is that this seeks to take advantage of
some states' troubled financial position."
FULL STORY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-01/buying-prisons-require-high-occupancy/53402894/1
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