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March 09, 2009
GA:: CCA takes over jail as ICE detention center
March 9, 2009
CCA bringing 160 jobs to Georgia
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) landed a contract to manage detainee populations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the North Georgia Detention Center in Gainesville, Ga.
The deal will bring 160 jobs to Hall County.
Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA will house up to 500 ICE detainees at the facility. The company will lease the former Hall County Jail for 20 years with two five-year renewal options. CCA expects to open the facility during the second quarter.
The facility will employ 160 correctional professionals in security, facility management, accounting, health services, human resources, business management, quality assurance and education.
Georgia’s soaring inmate population is overwhelming its capacity, and the state Department of Corrections has turned to the private sector to help fill the gap.
Georgia, like many states facing a budget crunch in a worsening economy, wants privately owned and operated detention centers to help handle its growing number of prisoners. Private prisons, proponents say, can save governments from 10 percent to 15 percent in inmate housing costs.
Georgia’s inmate population has grown from more than 47,000 in 2002 to 56,022 in 2008, thanks in large part to mandatory sentences. In 2004, Georgia ranked 11th in the nation for length of sentences served, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The state had the fifth-highest inmate population in the United States in 2007 and a budget of $950 million, according to the Department of Corrections.
CCA and Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. already operate private detention centers housing 5,122 prisoners, or 9.2 percent of state inmates in Georgia. Private prisons held 7.4 percent — or about 120,000 — of the nation’s 1.59 million inmates in 2007.
CCA currently runs 63 facilities in 19 states and Washington, D.C.
http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2009/03/09/daily5.html
Posted by lois at March 9, 2009 04:59 PM