CCA Prison Seeks Public Support in Contract Bid
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Representatives of Corrections Corporation of America Inc. say that a deciding factor on whether the Federal Bureau of Prisons renews its contract with its Northeast Ohio Correctional Center here may well depend on the level of community support heard in Washington D.C.
"There's obviously a lot at stake," says Steven Owen, spokesman for CCA, "not only for all our employees, but the businesses and other stakeholders from the community who benefit from the economic impact."
Owen and Bart VerHulst, CCA vice president for federal and local partnership relations, spent Thursday meeting with community and business leaders as part of a coordinated outreach program to secure community support for the private prison.
The Bureau of Prisons recently issued its request for proposals that necessitates Corrections Corporation of America Inc. to re-bid its contract to house inmates at its Northeast Ohio Correctional Center. The agency currently contracts with NEOCC and another private prison in Phillipsburg, Pa., to serve the inmate population in this region.
The Bureau of Prisons has indicated it wants to consolidate to a single facility in a seven-state district, effectively placing the Youngstown location in direct competition with Phillipsburg, Owen said.
"In all likelihood, one of those facilities would be awarded the contract," Owen said. "And, one of the facilities will have to scale back or close."
Some 1,500 inmates under the Bureau of Prisons contract are housed in the Youngstown site. Another 500 or so are incarcerated there under a separate contract with the U.S. Marshal Service.
The BOP wants to house 2,000 inmates at one site in the seven-state district.
Should the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center lose the contract, its inmate population would be shifted to another state and the prison would be forced to significantly cut services and eliminate most of the 440 jobs at the site, Owen said.
The impact on the city, county and community would be significant if those jobs were lost, he continued.
"CCA pays about $1.9 million in property taxes every year, of that, $1.3 million goes toward Youngstown City Schools," Owen said. The company also spends $20 million in local payroll and benefits -- on average, $50,000 per employee -- and spends another $1.2 million on good and services, $600,000 of which is spent in Youngstown with local businesses, according to Owen.
Since the Youngstown and Phillipsburg prisons are similar in size, competition is likely to be keen, Owen said.
Seventy-percent of CCA’s costs in running the local prison center on personnel, and the starting wage is set by geographical comparisons compiled by the Department of Labor. Here, the mandated starting wage is $19.54 an hour; in Phillipsburg it’s $21.65.
While the Bureau of Prisons focuses mainly on cost in evaluating proposals, it also measures the level of public support the community offers for entities submitting proposals.
"We've found that to be an important factor," Owen said.
Owen said the public and business leaders could help by contacting local officials, state representatives and congressmen and writing letters of support of CCA. "We want to empower the community with information and encourage them to be a part of the process by expressing their support,” he said.
Mayor Charles Sammarone said the city is prepared to help CCA and secure a new contract any way it can.
"They're a good business," he noted. "As far as I'm concerned, they're an asset to our city. If there's anything we can do to help them, we'll do it, just like we do for other businesses."
Among the options the company is considering is expanding its prison here to accommodate more prisoners – which would meet the capacity the Bureau of Prisons is seeking, Owen said.
"We've not made any final decisions on that yet," he said. “We’ll look at those options."
The Bureau of Prisons has sent an Aug. 15 deadline for proposals. A final decision could come at anytime up to 150 days before the intended start of a new contract, August 2015.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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