Private prison for state?

CALIFORNIA'S ALREADY OVERCROWDED prison system is expected to run out of
beds by 2000. Making matters worse for the state, voters have rejected
general oblig

ation bonds for prison construction, and the Legislature has turned down
the use of lease revenue bonds.

Without new prisons, the California Department of Corrections is sure to
be in a bind in a few years. That is why Corrections Corporation of
America is confident it can build a private prison in the Mojave Desert
"on spec" and fill it.

California already contracts with private firms to house about 5,000
minimumsecurity inmates at community facilities, but has yet to place
any higherrisk convicts in a private prison. The time is fast
approaching when the state has no better choice.

In fact, private prisons for all but maximumsecurity inmates could
prove to be a costeffective way to house the state's growing number of
convicts as a result of longer sentences under the "three strikes" law.

Corrections Corporation of America is no flybynight operation. It runs
59 jails and prisons in 17 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,
Australia and the United Kingdom.

California's Department of Corrections has not taken a position on using
private prisons, but it should. The Nashville, Tenn.based firm says it
can build a 2,000bed prison within two years and handle mediumsecurity
prisoners at a perinmate cost less than that of the state.

With California's highly paid prison guards and expensive facilities, it
should not be difficult for a private firm to operate at a considerably
lower cost and still deliver quality service.

However; any private prison must receive close government oversight to
make sure guards are properly trained and follow accepted procedures. And
there should be regular state audits of the prison firm's finances.

California should not be tempted to save public money by lowering
standards at correctional facilities, public or private.

At the same time, the state should not cave in to opposition to the
private prison plan by the California Correctional Peace Officers
Association. Representatives of the prison guards union already have
criticized the idea even before it has been fully presented to state
officials.

The union fears that the private prison is going to be a training ground
for guards who will move on to higher paying state guards. However; the
state can always assure that prison firm president David L. Meyers makes
good on his assertion that training of private prison guards is as
rigorous at it is for employees of state prisons.

A private mediumsecurity prison could establish a benchmark for
costeffective correctional facilities in California, saving taxpayers
money while providing a much needed service.