BOISE, Idaho – The two biggest private prison companies in the nation say they don’t want the contract to run a troubled Idaho prison, and that could shrink the pool of potential bidders to just two smaller companies.
GEO Group Inc. sent a letter last month to Josh Tewalt, a deputy chief with the Idaho Department of Correction, notifying the agency that it wouldn’t bid on the chance to operate the prison south of Boise when the current $29 million contract, held by Corrections Corporation of America, expires next summer. CCA has also informed the state that it won’t bid on the contract.
That leaves two smaller companies in the pool of likely bidders: Centerville, Utah-based Management and Training Corp., and Community Education Centers, based in West Caldwell, N.J.
CEC primarily provides treatment and education programs for inmates at several correctional centers across the country. But it also operates a small number of lock-ups — six jails, each with fewer than 550 inmates, and two prisons, the largest of which has 1,883 beds, according to CEC’s website. The company doesn’t offer any programs or run any facilities in Idaho but did register lobbyist Jeremy Pisca as its Idaho representative in July.
MTC first came to Idaho in July 2010 when the Correction Department selected it to operate the new Correctional Alternative Placement Program, or CAPP, south of Boise. The CAPP facility only houses inmates who are sentenced under retained jurisdiction programs, and if they successfully complete treatment programs during a short stay at the prison, they have the option of serving the remainder of their sentence on probation. MTC also operates 23 other prison facilities nationwide.