The combination of low crime rates and lockup quotas built into private prison contracts have caused taxpayers to pay for empty prison beds, according to Tulsa World.
Nearly 65 percent of the 62 private prison contracts that were analyzed include occupancy guarantees causing taxpayers to be forced to pay for empty beds if the lock-up quota is not met, the report finds.
“What corrections should not be is a turnkey for profit machine,’’ said Justin Jones, former Oklahoma Department Director. “That’s exactly what we’ve turned them into when we guarantee occupancy, with no requirement to produce results.’’
Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Virginia have occupancy guarantees, which demand the highest requirements, with quotas between 95 percent and 100 percent for the required occupancy.
Cimarron in Cushing, Davis in Holdenville and the Lawton Correctional Facility, three of the Oklahoma prisons included in the data have a 98 percent occupancy guarantee provision, Lawton’s operated by the GEO group—Davis and Cimarron are run by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).
CCA, the largest for-profit program company in the country, sent a letter to 48 state governors offering to buy their public prisons. CCA offered a 20-year contract guaranteeing, 90 percent occupancy for the contract period. No state accepted the CCA offer, according to Shar Habibi, research and policy director for In the Public Interest (IPI).
IPI recommends governments ban “lockup-quota’’ language from contracts with private prison providers so the taxpayers’ interest is protected.
“They have gamed the system and tied the hand of the policy makers,’’ said Habibi. “We urge lawmakers nationwide to end this practice.”
The Center for Responsive Politics reported that the CCA spent $17.4 million in lobbying expenditures from 2002 through 2012, while GEO spent only $2.5 million from 2004-2012.
In addition, CCA spent $1.9 million in political contributions from 2003 to 2012 and the GEO group spent $12.9 million in the same period. Both operate and own multiple prisons in Oklahoma.
