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April 03, 2009
MS: CCA Opening New Federal Prison: 2,500 cages---400 jobs
Thursday, April 2, 2009, 8:43am CDT
Corrections Corp. opens Mississippi prison
Nashville Business Journal
Corrections Corporation of America is opening a new prison in Natchez, Miss., that will house more than 2,500 federal prisoners and create some 400 jobs.
CCA won a federal contract to house a maximum of 2,567 inmates at its new Adams County Correctional Center in southwest Misssissippi. A group of prisoners — mostly illegal aliens in the process of being deported — will start arriving this fall, the company says.
The $128 million federal facility is the corrections company's fourth prison in Mississippi. Franklin-based CCA (NYSE:CXW) is the nation’s largest private prison operator.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour hailed the federal contract, saying in a statement that it “fills a public need and provides good-paying jobs to Mississippians.”
Tony Grande, CCA’s chief development officer, calls the prison industry “recession-resistant.” But in February, CCA suspended construction of a 2,040-bed correctional facility in Trousdale County, Tenn., citing uncertainty over when the facility’s beds could be filled. Company officials said they would hold off on building the prison until they had a better idea of when they could fill the beds. A 1,000-bed federal detention center in Nevada was also placed on hold.
Nevertheless, a 4.1 percent increase in inmates and a 5.2 percent increase in per diem rates helped CCA to a 16 percent jump in 2008 fourth quarter earnings, which were $40.5 million compared to $34.9 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
For the full year 2008, CCA reported a 9.8 percent increase in revenue and a 13.2 percent increase in net income per diluted share. The company added 8,275 additional beds last year, and CCA officials said they plan to invest about $132.1 million in capital expenditures in 2009, including $78.5 million in already announced prison construction and expansions.
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2009/03/30/daily25.html
Posted by lois at April 3, 2009 12:08 AM