CCA Spends Millions on Lobby Efforts

WASHINGTON — Corrections Corporation of America spent $2.5 million lobbying federal lawmakers and agencies on legislation and regulations related to the private prison industry during 2007, according disclosures filed with the Senate’s public records office.


The Tennessee-based prison construction and management firm lobbied Congress, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and federal departments, including Homeland Security and Justice, on the privatization of Bureau of Indian Affairs prisons, the Public Safety Act and the Private Prison Information Act. The company disclosed payments to lobbying firms totaling more than $2.5 million.


CCA, which also lobbied lawmakers and government agencies on immigration reform and fiscal year 2008 spending bills, paid one Washington law firm $120,000 in the first half of 2007, according to federally mandated disclosures.


CCA, which operates about 72,000 beds at 62 facilities in 20 states, ranks as the fifth-largest prison system in the United States after the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the state systems of California, Texas and Florida.