Dan Morain: Crime is good for business

Sacbee — Crime can be good for business.

After spending his first two and half years in office reducing prison spending, Gov. Jerry Brown announced his plan last week to comply with a federal court order that he limit prison crowding by increasing prison capacity by 8,000 inmates, at a cost of $315 million this year, $400 million next year, and more in years to come.

Rather than house the inmates in state-owned prisons, Brown intends to place 2,300 of them in a private prison outside California City, a threadbare Mojave Desert town 66 miles southeast of Bakersfield.

The prison’s owner is Corrections Corp. of America, a publicly traded company based in Nashville. The nation’s largest prison company, Corrections Corp. already houses 8,900 California prisoners in out-of-state prisons. California accounted for 12 percent of the company’s revenue last year, or $214.8 million, an amount that will increase if the California City deal wins final approval.

Brown hopes to lease the lockup facility and staff it with state workers, including about 2,000 California Correctional Peace Officers Association members. That explains why CCPOA president Mike Jimenez stood with other law enforcement representatives at the Capitol press conference as Brown announced the plan. continue reading...