|
|
| Alabama to pay $500,000 for empty prison space in Mississippi |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 02/09/2004 |
|
The state must continue paying for space at a Mississippi prison even while cells are left empty as inmates are brought back to Alabama, a bill expected to surpass $500,000. The Department of Corrections' contract with the company that owns the private prison did not specify an end date, but it did require a 60-day notice for either party to terminate the agreement, said Steve Owen, spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America. So while 379 male inmates are due back in Alabama by week's end, the state still must pay the $27.50 per diem cost for each of them through March 11 -- 60 days after Prisons Commissioner Donal Campbell announced plans to begin returning the inmates to state prisons. Unused beds for that group alone will cost more than $340,000. More men will return every week until March 12, leaving empty beds that will push the total to at least $500,000. Meanwhile, it will cost the same daily amount to house each of those inmates in Alabama prisons. But prisons spokesman Brian Corbett said the state had no alternative. State officials, faced with a record prison population of 28,440 and a federal court order to remove state prisoners from county jails, signed the emergency contract with CCA last June. Owen said the CCA prison in Tutwiler, Miss., was nearly empty before the Alabama inmates began arriving July 7. The sudden surge forced the company to find temporary workers to staff the prison, and federal law requires employers to give 60 days notice before letting workers go, he said. CCA typically deals in long-term contracts with state and federal prison systems, but a 60-day notice is standard regardless of the contract's length, Owen said. The state has created prison space by increasing paroles and community corrections programs, whittling the inmate population to 27,344 by December 2003. Another 990 male prisoners remain in the Mississippi prison. |
advertise
|
privacy policy
|
add URL
|
about us
|
terms/disclaimer
|
contact us
|
join our team
|
help
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think