strongernow
06-08-2004, 07:36 PM
Prison could open by August
Private facility near Lumpkin seeking inmate contract
BY HARRY FRANKLIN
LUMPKIN, Ga. - A 1,524-bed private prison being built for Corrections Corporation of America just east of town should be ready for occupancy by early August, officials said.
But when it will open for business is unknown, said Steve Owen, director of marketing/communications for the Nashville, Tenn.-based company.
"We are very close," said Kathy Frizzell, project manager with Ray Bell Construction Co., Brentwood, Tenn., the general contractors. "We are working on the punch list."
She said the last outside concrete was poured Friday and that about 125 workers a day are putting the finishing touches to the 300,000-square-foot facility.
Owen estimated the total cost at $52 million, and said CCA is working hard to market the prison.
"There are multiple federal and state potential customers," he said. "We are in discussions."
Owen said the company has had interest expressed in the medium-security facility by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshal's Service and by federal immigration officials, as well as corrections departments in Georgia, Florida and Alabama.
He would not say whether CCA is close to signing a contract. He said the company's intent is to own and operate it just as it does similar prisons it built in Coffee and Wheeler counties, where the Georgia Department of Corrections houses state inmates. But he said CCA would entertain any offers.
The prison, 1.4 miles from the Lumpkin court square, was started in 1999 and was expected to open in July 2000 and cost $45 million. But construction was halted when the Georgia DOC backed out of a verbal commitment to house state inmates there, company officials have said. CCA decided to resume construction last year, in part because it was paying taxes on the 100-acre tract and on the buildings, while receiving no revenue from the project.
He said the company will not begin hiring staff for the prison until it has a signed contract. The facility will require 300 or more workers, depending on which agency houses inmates there. He said it would take at least two months to hire and train workers.
Private facility near Lumpkin seeking inmate contract
BY HARRY FRANKLIN
LUMPKIN, Ga. - A 1,524-bed private prison being built for Corrections Corporation of America just east of town should be ready for occupancy by early August, officials said.
But when it will open for business is unknown, said Steve Owen, director of marketing/communications for the Nashville, Tenn.-based company.
"We are very close," said Kathy Frizzell, project manager with Ray Bell Construction Co., Brentwood, Tenn., the general contractors. "We are working on the punch list."
She said the last outside concrete was poured Friday and that about 125 workers a day are putting the finishing touches to the 300,000-square-foot facility.
Owen estimated the total cost at $52 million, and said CCA is working hard to market the prison.
"There are multiple federal and state potential customers," he said. "We are in discussions."
Owen said the company has had interest expressed in the medium-security facility by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshal's Service and by federal immigration officials, as well as corrections departments in Georgia, Florida and Alabama.
He would not say whether CCA is close to signing a contract. He said the company's intent is to own and operate it just as it does similar prisons it built in Coffee and Wheeler counties, where the Georgia Department of Corrections houses state inmates. But he said CCA would entertain any offers.
The prison, 1.4 miles from the Lumpkin court square, was started in 1999 and was expected to open in July 2000 and cost $45 million. But construction was halted when the Georgia DOC backed out of a verbal commitment to house state inmates there, company officials have said. CCA decided to resume construction last year, in part because it was paying taxes on the 100-acre tract and on the buildings, while receiving no revenue from the project.
He said the company will not begin hiring staff for the prison until it has a signed contract. The facility will require 300 or more workers, depending on which agency houses inmates there. He said it would take at least two months to hire and train workers.