RFP Out for Privatizing State Prisons. Just Say No.

State steps toward private operation of Douglas prison

Sierra Vista Herald

Mon, 02/01/2010 - 22:03 

 

PHOENIX — The state wants to know whether private companies are interested in running state prisons in Douglas and Safford.

A “request for information” from private prison companies was issued Monday in response to House Bill 2010, approved last year as part of the state budget.


“We will know before the end of February whether there is any interest by private companies in operating these two prisons,” Corrections Director Charles L. Ryan said. “We will await the responses and conduct an evaluation before proceeding.”

The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Capital Review narrowed the scope of the “request for information” to exclude prison complexes with maximum-security and close-custody beds. The Safford and Douglas prisons are the only two complexes that fall into that scope, Ryan said. They house only minimum- and medium-security inmates.

Responses from companies are due Feb. 23.