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                   CALIFORNIA CITY — The Federal Bureau of Prisons announced Friday it would contract with Corrections Corporation of America to house criminal aliens in its 2,304-bed facility near here. 

The federal contract with CCA to house the inmates at the California City Correctional Center is worth $529 million at the end of 10 years. It begins with a base period of three years, with seven one-year options and ensures that the prison, completed last year at a cost of over $110 million, will be filled. 

Low security, noncitizen criminal inmates could start arriving in three months, said Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Daniel Dunne. He said it was too early to predict exactly where inmates would come from, but federal prisons throughout the country are overcrowded. 

News of the contract brought a range of reactions from officials and residents. 

"It's a trip," said Mayor Larry Adams. "This will definitely change the town for the better." City Manager Jack Stewart sees the contract in terms of jobs and economic promise for the city of more than 10,000 residents. This contract will be very beneficial to California City. It will mean the addition of nearly 400 jobs. Nashville-based CCA opened the prison last September. It currently employs about 150, 74 correctional officers will pay in the neighborhood of $35,000 to $40,000 a year, said Stewart. The prison is currently housing several hundred inmates for the U.S. Marshal. But the federal contract may fill the prison to capacity. 

According to Adams, a prison proponent from the beginning, several businesses have hinted about coming to town once the prison opened, including a major supermarket, a four-screen movie theater and a Sears hardware outlet. 

Nashville-based CCA opened the prison last September. It currently employs 150 people, 74 of them guards. If the prison is filled to capacity, it will have about 500 full-time employees, most of them guards. One hoped-for improvement is a boost to the city's population, now about 9,000, as new guards bring their families to town. The inmates themselves are also counted as city residents for census purposes. Unfortunately, the federal contract didn't come soon enough for the 2000 census, said City Clerk Helen Dennis. She hopes she can file an amendment to the city's census count because state funds are often divvied up among cities based on population. 

Meanwhile, although the Federal Bureau of Prisons wanted to fill the prison with its own prisoners, there are already about 360 inmates for the U.S. Marshal in the facility. Myers said it was his understanding the two federal agencies would work out a solution. Dunne said the logistics would likely have to be worked out by CCA. While CCA will operate the prison, it will have to meet federal prison regulations and the feds will retain oversight and provide some on-site staff, Dunne said. 

The bureau approved only two of these contracts, and both were to CCA, said Myers. The other is in New Mexico, worth $230 million, for the same time period. 

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Two Decades of Service to the Public Sector 

CCA’s industry benchmarks include many operational and programmatic firsts. We are proud to have pioneered the way for public/private partnerships in corrections. 

CCA Incorporated
CCA was incorporated on January 29, 1983, by three businessmen with a progressive vision: the provision of corrections, a traditionally government-administered service by private business. Co-founders Tom Beasley, Don Hutto and Doctor Crants brought a diverse group of skills to apply to their new business venture: public policy and knowledge of the legislative process, public corrections, and financial expertise. 

Houston Processing Center (1984) 
Houston Processing Center was CCA’s first design, build and manage contract from the U.S. Department of Justice for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service) in Texas. Construction was underway on the Houston Processing Center in Texas when the INS notified CCA that it needed housing for detainees earlier than expected – in January. Co-founders Tom Beasley and Don Hutto went to Houston to find a motel to temporarily house detainees. The owner of the local Olympic Motel agreed to a 90-day lease. After a team of contractors cleaned and secured the facility, an INS inspection team approved the facility for use by 86 detainees, scheduled to arrive at 11:00 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday. Hutto bought toiletries at Wal-Mart with his American Express card, produced photo ID cards and rolled fingerprints, while other corporate officers distributed sandwiches and helped security staff escort detainees to their living quarters. CCA’s Houston Processing Center opened a few months later, in March 1984, and remains in operation for BICE today. 

Tall Trees, Memphis, Tennessee (1984) 
CCA assumed management of its first facility, Tall Trees, a 63-bed, non-secure juvenile facility, for the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County, in 1984. 

Shelby Training Center, Memphis, Tennessee (1986)
CCA’s 200-bed Shelby Training Center in Memphis, Tennessee was the first design, build and manage secure juvenile training school, housing male offenders for the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County. 

New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility (1989) 
CCA contracted with the New Mexico Department of Corrections to design, build and manage the New Mexico Women’ s Correctional Facility in Grants. The 204-bed facility was the first women’s prison in the United States to be privately built and operated. 

Winn Correctional Center (1990) 
CCA’s Winn Correctional Center was the first medium-security private prison in the United States. Located in Winn Parish, Louisiana, the center was designed, financed and built by the state. 

Leavenworth Detention Center (1992) 
CCA designed and built the 256-bed Leavenworth Detention Center, which the company operates for the U.S. Marshals Service. The center was the first maximum-security private prison under direct contract with a federal agency. 

Excellence in Accreditation: New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility (1991) 
CCA’s New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility became the company’s first facility to achieve a perfect score from the American Correctional Association on its initial ACA audit in 1991. Since that time, six more CCA facilities have achieved this distinction – Lee Adjustment Center, Lake City Correctional Facility, Bent County Correctional Facility, Otter Creek Correctional Center, Gadsden Correctional Facility, and California City Correctional Facility -- and 85% of CCA facilities are ACA accredited. 

LifeLine (1993) 
CCA’s LifeLine substance abuse treatment program is founded at Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility in Nashville, Tennessee. Since that time, 23 CCA facilities utilize the therapeutic community model, and the program has drawn the interest of officials from the public sector and other countries, including Russia, South Africa and Korea. 

Transportation services (1995) 
CCA acquires TransCor America, Inc., the nation’s largest long-distance inmate transportation company. 

Correctional Treatment Facility (1997) 
CCA assumes management of the Correctional Treatment Facility in Washington, D.C., a medium-security facility specializing in substance abuse treatment for adult males and females. CTF represented many firsts for CCA: the first facility in the nation’s capital, the company’s first contract for a purchase and lease-back agreement with local government, and the first partnership between CCA and organized labor unions. 

David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center (1999)
CCA opened the 1,714-bed David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the largest county jail ever to become a private jail. 

New Leadership, New Organization (2001)
To enhance the company’s service to our customers and support long-term goals, CCA implements a new corporate structure. Highlights of the new structure include a realigned Business Development division with greater coverage for each of CCA’s markets and the creation of a Human Resources department, to enhance internal performance monitoring and establish a formal support network for CCA employees. 

CCA Celebrates its 20th Anniversary (2003)
At this point in company history, CCA is the nation’s sixth largest corrections system, with 59 facilities in 20 states and the District of Columbia. The company maintains a security record that compares well to our industry colleagues, with an escape rate more than 10 times lower than public corrections systems. Our commitment to quality performance-driven educational, vocational, substance abuse and re-entry programs for inmates continues to be at the forefront of our efforts