I n 2012, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) , the largest for-profit private prison company in the country, sent a letter to 48 state governors offering to buy their public prisons. CCA offered to buy and operate a state’s pr ison in exchange for a 0-year contract, which would include a 90 percent occupancy rate guarantee for the entire term. 1 Essentially, the state would have to guarantee that its prison would be 90 percent filled for the next 0 years (a quota), or pay the company for unused prison beds if the number of inmates dipped below 90 percent capacity at any point during the contract term (a “low-crime tax” that essentially penalizes taxpayers when prison incarceration rates fall). Fortunately, no state took CCA up on its outrageous offer. But many private prison companies have been successful at inserting occupancy guarantee provisions into prison privatization contracts, requiring states to maintain high occupancy levels in their private prisons. For example, three privately-run prisons in Arizona are governed by contracts that contain 100 percent inmate quotas. The state of Arizona is contractually obligated to keep these prisons filled to 100 percent capacity, or pay the private company for any unused beds. These contract clauses incentivize keeping prison beds filled, which runs counter to many states’ public policy goals of reducing the prison population and increasing eff orts for inmate rehabilitation. When policymakers received the 01 CCA letter, some worried the terms of CCA’s offer would encourage criminal justice officials to seek harsher sentences to maintain the occupancy rates required by a contract. 3 Policy decisions should be based on creating and maintaining a just criminal justice system that protects the public interest, not ensuring corporate profits.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 21:38:30 +0000
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