Homeless in Arizona

Jailing people for profit is a big industry in Arizona.

This contract pays the private prison company Corrections Corporation of America, $24,000 a year for each person it jails. That's $66.35 a day for each person jailed.

Those figure don't include the cost of building the prison, so the cost of locking people in prison is really a lot more then the $24,000 a year figure. When I collect signatures to legalize marijuana I tell people it costs $30,000 a year for each pot smoker we throw in prison.

Again government is not the solution to the problem, government is the cause of the problem.

Arizona awards 20-year private-prison contract to only bidder

Craig Harris, The Republic | azcentral.com 8:43 a.m. MST December 17, 2015

The state will guarantee Corrections Corporation of America nearly $22 million a year to house up to 1,000 medium-security inmates in Eloy, with a 90 percent prisoner occupancy promise.

The state has agreed to a 90 percent occupancy rate for CCA, which will house up to 1,000 additional medium-security prisoners at its Red Rock facility in Eloy.

The contract is expected to guarantee CCA an operating profit by paying the company $66.35 a day per inmate. That translates to at least $21.8 million annually, with the 90 percent occupancy promise. Inmates will start filling the new beds Sept. 1, according to the state.

The Department of Corrections said the deal would save taxpayers money because it's less costly to house inmates in a private facility, according to state-run cost comparisons.

Although Corrections said it was less costly to house inmates at a private facility, it acknowledged the "adjusted price" that does not include capital construction to house an inmate in a state-run medium-security prison is $64.30 a day — less than what CCA will receive under the new contract. Yet, Corrections also estimated that an "adjusted price" for CCA, which excludes capital cost and DOC overhead, would be $58.06 per inmate.

The contract also is paying CCA more than the $65.43 the company currently receives per day for housing 1,000 medium-custody inmates at Red Rock in Eloy.

Corrections said it negotiated a lower per diem price from the original $68.75 bid submitted by CCA.

The agency indicated some savings are anticipated because CCA would absorb the construction cost for the prison beds. Corrections indicated it could cost $40 million to build a new prison.

But the Red Rock facility already is built and only needs an expansion.

A state Corrections spokesman said CCA would need to expand its facility for 376 additional inmates for newly funded beds. There are 624 existing (empty) beds at the facility that need some upgrades.

The Arizona Legislature provided funding for the new beds, which Corrections officials say are needed to ease some overcrowding in the state prison system.

The state has increased its reliance on private prisons, even after an inmate riot during the summer that destroyed a private facility outside Kingman, and a federal sexual-discrimination case against an operator in Florence.

Private-prison companies, such as CCA, have made campaign contributions to Gov. Doug Ducey and other Republicans who control the Legislature. The prison companies also have hired some of the best-connected lobbyists at the Capitol.

Residents in Eloy at a public hearing last month said they welcomed a private-prison expansion, noting it would add more jobs and that CCA has been a good corporate partner.