Ohio becomes 1st to sell state prison to private company

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A lockup along the shores of Lake Erie has become the first state prison in the nation to be sold to a private company.

Lake Erie Correctional Institution in northeastern Ohio’s Ashtabula County is the only one of five state prisons up for sale that will be sold, state officials said Thursday. Corrections Corporation of America will buy it for $72.7 million, more than the $50 million needed from the privatization effort to balance the state’s prison budget.

CCA, the nation’s largest prison operator, takes control of the Lake Erie facility in Conneaut on Dec. 31, pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the move.

Offering the prisons for sale was an idea spearheaded by Republican Gov. John Kasich as he grappled with an $8 billion budget hole earlier this year. He wasn’t the only governor to propose it: Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana introduced a similar plan that was shot down by state lawmakers in June.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio said the prison sale doesn’t fix the main problem that too many people are being incarcerated.

“These changes are nothing more than a Band-Aid for the deep-seated problems that continue to plague our state,” Policy Director Shakyra Diaz said in a statement. “Privatization does nothing to address it, and may actually make it worse by allowing companies to make a profit off imprisoning people.”

Ohio’s prisons are over capacity, housing some 51,000 inmates in 31 prisons built to hold about 38,000. Estimates suggest the inmate population could rise to 54,000 in four years if nothing changes.

CCA already operates one federal prison in Ohio, the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown, but no state facilities.