CCA Opens 2,232-bed Facility for Illegal-Immigrant Offenders

NATCHEZ, Miss. — Corrections Corporation of America will bring the recently completed Adams County Correctional Facility on line this year to house illegal-immigrant offenders for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

CCA announced the opening of the 2,232-bed Adams County Correctional Facility after winning an FBOP contract to house up to 2,567 federal inmates.

Under the terms of the contract, the Natchez facility will house minimum-security classification illegal immigrants convicted of offenses in the United States who are to be repatriated to their countries of origin following completion of their sentences
“This is an especially timely development, given the national economic landscape,” says Damon Hininger, president and COO of CCA, which will begin inmate intake at Natchez during the third quarter of 2009.

The Adams County project was scheduled for completion in 2008 but the construction schedule was extended seven months after CCA added 564 beds to the planned 1,668 beds mid-project at a cost of $30 million. The private prison operator completed construction of the facility, which spans approximately 140 acres, during the first quarter of 2009.

CCA houses approximately 8,500 federal inmates at five facilities: the 2,304-bed California City Correctional Center (Calif.), the 1,129-bed Cibola County Correctional Center (N.M.), the 1,538-bed Eden Detention Center (Texas), the 1,524-bed McRae Correctional Center (Ga.), and the 2,016-bed Northeast Ohio Correctional Center.

In other news, CCA will expand two of its facilities in Georgia after the Department of Corrections awarded the prison operator a contract for 1,500 additional beds.

The Tennessee-based company plans to expand the 1,524-bed Coffee Correctional Facility by 788 beds, and 712 beds will be added to the 1,524-bed Wheeler Correctional at an estimated combined cost of $65 million. The expansion projects are scheduled for completion during the third quarter of 2010.

“These additional beds will provide the state of Georgia additional bed capacity to address their inmate population needs,” says John Ferguson, CEO of CCA, which houses approximately 3,400 inmates in that state.

The contract award, which amends an existing agreement with CCA, satisfies a competitive request for proposal for 1,500 beds issued by the state in October 2008, officials say. The amended contract, which expires mid-2010, includes 24 one-year renewal options.

The company also announced a five-year contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to manage up to 500 detainees at the North Georgia Detention Center in Hall County. Under the intergovernmental agreement between federal, state and local officials, the company will lease the former jail in Hall County for up to 30 years.

CCA also recently contracted with the Arizona Department of Corrections to house up to 752 state inmates at the company’s Huerfano County Correctional Center in Colorado.