Private prison proposal

A Tennessee corporation wants to build a privately run prison at an industrial park in Storey County, east of Reno and north of Virginia City.

Nashville-based Corrections Corp. of America, the largest private prison business in the country, has begun the application process for a permit that would allow it to build a prison on about 500 acres of land in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.

The company says the facility, still in the planning phase, could hold up to 3,000 inmates and employ about 600 workers.

Spokeswoman Louise Grant said the company does not yet have a contract to build the prison, although, "We certainly have had discussions with local Storey County leaders and we are exploring those options."

In December, after two years of negotiations, Corrections Corp. won a contract to build a federal detention center in Nye County. The outfit also managed a women's prison in Las Vegas as recently as five years ago, but lost that contract, in part over inmate health care concerns.

The Las Vegas women's prison was taken over by the Nevada Department of Corrections because the company's management wasn't "conducive" to how the state thought a prison should be run, according to department spokesman Greg Smith.

Five years ago, a spokesman for CCA estimated his company would lose more than $1 million running the state women's prison in 2004 alone -- largely due to inmate medical costs -- but that the company would make a bid to continue operating the prison "if a remedy can be found."

The private outfit was willing to give up $14.71 of the $47.79 per day it was receiving for each inmate, in exchange for the state taking over health care responsibilities. At the time, Department of Corrections Medical Director Ted D'Amico said the state incurred an average cost per day of $7.38 providing care at the state prisons it operated.

Greg Bortolin, spokesman for Gov. Kenny Guinn, acknowledged at the time the state was behind the move to have the Corrections Department take over medical care at the prison, adding Gov. Guinn's concern was proper medical care.

"Privatization is a big deal, but in this case we can do better than the private sector," Mr. Bortolin said at the time. "The health care of our inmates is our responsibility, regardless of the politics."

That's true, and should not be overlooked in any future "farming out" of prison responsibilities. The health and safety of inmates are a considerable cost -- a cost and responsibility of which governments can't wash their hands simply by letting private contracts.

Given that crime and prisons are likely to be with us for the foreseeable future, however -- and given that state and local governments are finally going to have to learn to prioritize their tasks and make do with less -- it still makes more economic sense to let private firms manage prison payrolls than to offer state or county wages and benefits equivalent to those offered firemen and police. So, if that many new prison beds are really likely to be needed, Storey County should be encouraged to continue exploring this option -- though we'd recommend the County Commission set up a process to inspect food service and health care in any such a facility on the model favored by another former Nevada governor.

Anyone complaining about the grub at a state facility when Mike O'Callaghan was chief executive knew there was always a chance they'd look up and find the guy in the blue shirt sitting across the breakfast table was the governor himself.