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CCA prison has invested $32 million in community
Published Wednesday, October 14, 2009
VIDALIA — Through the Adams County Correctional Facility, Corrections Corporation of America has spent approximately $32 million in the area, warden Vance Laughlin said Tuesday.
Laughlin was the featured guest speaker at the Vidalia Chamber of Commerce’s monthly meeting.
“We do a lot of business locally, and that is kind of an anomaly in our company,” he said.
Prior to coming to Adams County, CCA did some local business, but some policies required that the company open projects up to national bidding, Laughlin said.
“The federal government said you need to make a stronger commitment to local business, and I said, ‘Let me do it,’” Laughlin said. “Release me from the national bidder requirements and I will see what I can do.”
Approximately 42 percent of the business done at CCA has been local, and whenever a new project comes up — for example, an addition that is currently being built on a warehouse — Laughlin said he tries to get a local business on board, and he said whenever the prison needs chemicals or other supplies, he looks to local sellers.
“We are locked in with commitments with local businesses,” he said. “If we have a need, we are going to shop both sides of the river, because it doesn’t matter to me where you are if you can get that small business dollar.”
Property taxes for the facility will generate $2.1 million a year, and CCA’s utility bills are projected to total $1.8 million, Laughlin said.
The company also looks to hire locally as much as it can, and to date it has had 6,100 applicants for the 409 jobs available.
Some of those positions haven’t been filled because the prison doesn’t have a full population yet, but Laughlin also said many of the applicants were turned down because of the quality of their application or an inability to clear a federal background check, part of which includes their credit history.
“It’s not that you have to have good credit, it’s that you can’t have unresolved debt,” he said. “Anyone with charge-offs in their credit history isn’t going to clear that check.”
The prison is built to accommodate as many as 2,567 prisoners, and currently houses 800.
The prison population is composed of low-security criminal aliens, and currently represents 27 countries, though most are from Latin America, Laughlin said.
Having the prison is a win-win for the area because of the money it generates for the region, he said.
“The inmates come from somewhere else, and when they leave they go somewhere else, we are not releasing them into the community,” he said.
“It’s a recession proof job that creates no pollution.”
The prison officially opened in July.
Comments
Posted by thetinman (Keith Reynolds) on October 14, 2009 at 9:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good Luck on getting some honest people that has fallen on hard times. There are quite a few potential employees you could have. All we ask, give us a chance to get ourselves honestly corrected.
I am a man of faith. I have even fallen on hard times and have a few items I could catch up on. I know the last time I tried with you, I was rejected, but never given a reason.
Sometimes, some need to do a right thing for others. I was a driver trainer for one of the nations largest trucking companies. I was hard, but most important, I was fair!! In three years of training for this company, I never had not one student I submitted for upgrade to not pass on there 1st go at upgrade so they could get there on rig. I got only one bad evaluation in such time. from one student. I made sure my students had a chance.
Sometimes, with some people, you may need to take a chance so we could get ourselves out of our situation, HONESTLY!
GOD Bless
Remember JESUS CHRIST is coming soon.
Posted by steve_o (anonymous) on October 14, 2009 at 10:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Evidently the Federal Government dictates the rules for Federal Prisons.
Key sentence: “It’s not that you have to have good credit, it’s that you can’t have unresolved debt,” he said. “Anyone with charge-offs in their credit history isn’t going to clear that check.”
"Sometimes, some need to do a right thing for others" - Posted by thetinman
Thats what we call "good ole boy shenanagins"
Too bad we don't have any more comments than this about a company that contributes @ least 2 million a year just in property taxes!!!
"Approximately 42 percent of the business done at CCA has been local"
What about the other 58%...?
Posted by concernedrn (anonymous) on October 15, 2009 at 7:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The other 58% of business they do probably comes from things that Natchez doesn't offer, go figure! But at least they are here putting the millions into property taxes, etc. Someone always has something to bitch about. If you would have paid your bills, or not gotten in over your head to begin with, it might have resulted in better credit=job @ prison. It aggravates me to read about these people that are throwing such a pity party because they didn't get hired. I hate to say it, but its for a reason!
Posted by mrmojorisin (anonymous) on October 16, 2009 at 12:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I heard a couple of million here, a couple of million in light bills there....where's the other $28 million?
--mojo
Posted by robertgaines63 (anonymous) on October 27, 2009 at 11:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I sure would like to see a list of the local companies that have been hired by CCA. I think the taxpayers/voters would as well.
Posted by SayItRight (anonymous) on October 28, 2009 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Since they are a private corporation I don't know how much of their detailed expenditure can be handed out to the public unless being contracted by the county allows it.
Their website is interesting though. http://investor.shareholder.com/cxw/resu...
The 8-K shows their quarterly results and even mentions the Adams County Correctional Center.
" As of August 1, 2009, we had approximately 9,400 unoccupied beds available for use at facilities that had availability of 100 or more beds, including 502 beds at the North Georgia Detention Center, where renovations to prepare the facility for detainees from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) were completed during July 2009. However, this inventory of beds available is reduced to approximately 6,600 beds after taking into consideration the beds committed pursuant to new management contracts with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) at our newly constructed Adams County Correctional Center and ICE at the North Georgia facility.
Commenting on the financial results, Chief Executive Officer, John Ferguson stated, “We are pleased with our second quarter financial results. Despite a challenging environment, we were able to generate earnings ahead of our forecast. Inmate populations at several facilities came in ahead of expectations as California ramped more quickly and U.S. Marshals populations grew. During the third quarter we look forward to the commencement of our new contracts with the Bureau of Prisons at our Adams County Correctional Center and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement at our North Georgia Detention Center.”
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