The cells of a ward are seen Tuesday, June 30, 2015, at Silverdale Correctional Facility in Chattanooga, Tenn.Hamilton County is bringing in some outside legal help to privatize its jail.
In August, the county brought in consultant Public Financial Management to assist in finding private operators for a 1,600-bed facility that would be located near the privately run Silverdale detention facility. The county jail, located downtown, has an inmate capacity of 505 prisoners and has suffered from overcrowding for years.
In February, three companies said they were interested in constructing and operating a new jail on behalf of the county: Corrections Corporation of America, GEO Group and Emerald Companies. CCA has operated the Silverdale facility since 1984.
On Wednesday, commissioners voted 8-0 to approve a legal services agreement for up to $250,000 with McguireWoods LLP and Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel. Commissioner Randy Fairbanks was absent.
“They have an expertise in putting together private-public partnerships, and that’s something our staff in county government doesn’t do very often, and certainly not to this magnitude,” Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said after the meeting. “As you can imagine, there’s a whole lot of money involved in this and we needed to be able to spend this additional money for legal advice, because of what is on the table.”