By Gary Grado | Arizona Capitol Times
Arizona’s first private prison is going to become the property of the state.
A provision in contracts for the state’s five privately run prisons allows the state to buy the prison for a nominal price as the contract expires.
In the case of the Marana Community Correctional Treatment Facility, a 500-bed minimum security prison that opened in 1994, the state will pay $150,000 for the purchase. DOC intends to use funds from its fiscal year 2014 base budget.
DOC Director Charles Ryan said the purchase is a good business decision that will reduce operation costs.
DOC estimates $850,000 a year in savings, or about 10 percent per inmate per day by owning it. The state currently pays 49.03 per inmate per day, according to memo submitted to the Joint Committee on Capital Review.
