CCA Completes Initial Phases of 3,060-Bed Arizona Facility
ELOY, Ariz. — The new $205 million La Palma Correctional Center came online as Corrections Corporation of America completed the first phases of the planned 3,060-bed facility.
The La Palma facility, which began housing inmates in July, is the largest planned facility in the private prison operator’s 25-year history.
Completing a correctional project of this scale is a strategic decision that generates time- and cost-efficiencies, says Daren Swenson, CCA managing director of operations in Arizona.
CCA had planned to bring 360 beds online each month beginning in July, but Kansas City, Miss.-based construction firm J.E. Dunn completed the 1,020-bed first phase of the project two months ahead of schedule. CCA expects to fill the 3,060-bed La Palma facility with state inmates transferred from California, officials say.
CCA in Arizona Eloy Florence Source: Corrections Corporation of America |
Phase two of the project, which includes all support buildings, was completed in August.
“Several innovative practices are pushing the project forward at the current pace,” says Doug O’Neill, senior project manager for J.E. Dunn Construction.
“For example, the housing units are prefabricated, shipped to the campus site and setup independently,” he says. “Then the rest of the housing unit is built around the cell modules.”
An additional 1,020 beds are due to come online by October, with the remaining 1,020 beds scheduled for completion by January 2009.
In 2007, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation renegotiated an existing agreement, under which CCA was contracted to house up to 5,670 state inmates. Under the terms of the new four-year agreement, CCA could house up to 7,772 California state inmates, officials say.
The Nashville, Tenn.-based company currently houses California inmates at the 1,824-bed Florence Correctional Center, in Florence, Ariz.; the 1,824-bed Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility, in Tutwiler, Miss.; and the 600-bed West Tennessee Detention Facility, in Mason, Tenn., according to the company.
California inmates will be transferred to the CCA’s new Arizona facility as construction of La Palma moves toward completion and the remaining housing space becomes operational, officials say.
“From day one, our goal has been to build a well-constructed, innovatively designed, safe and secure facility that responsively meets the needs of our partnering customer and supports our commitment to the residents of Eloy,” says Frank Betancourt, CCA vice president of real estate.
The La Palma facility is the sixth CCA detention facility in Arizona, increasing the private prison operator’s total housing capacity in the state to 12,180 beds.