of america type public traded as nyse cxw industry private prisons founded nashville tennessee u.s. 1983 founder thomas w. beasley t. don hutto doctor robert crants headquarters nashville tennessee u.s. area served united states key people john d. ferguson chairman of the board damon t. hininger president & ceo revenue 1.736 billion operating income 332.06 million net income 162.51 million total assets 3.020 billion total equity 1.408 billion number of employees 16 750 december 2011 website www.cca.com footnotes references 2011 financial statements 1 eden detention center in eden texas corrections corporation of america cca is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis . co founded by thomas w. beasley a leader in the republican party doctor robert crants and t. don hutto in 1983 it received initial investments from hospital corporation of america s founder jack c. massey the tennessee valley authority and vanderbilt university . 2 as of 2015 the company is the largest private corrections company in the united states . it manages more than 65 correctional and detention facilities with a capacity of more than 90 000 beds in 19 states and the district of columbia . 3 the company s revenue in 2012 exceeded 1.7 billion . 4 controversies related to the company include treatment of inmates and disclosure of oversight lobbying efforts to conceal details of operations a lawsuit about gang influence in idaho prison and substantial falsification of records co operation with local law enforcement in a school drug sweep and the deadly 2012 riot in a mississippi facility . 5 contents 1 history 2 overview 2.1 inmate rehabilitation 2.2 occupancy and profitability 2.3 employment difficulties 3 immigrant detention facilities 3.1 t. don hutto residential center 3.2 eloy detention center 3.3 central detention center of arizona 3.4 south texas residential center dilley texas 3.5 laredo processing center 3.6 houston processing center 4 closed facilities 4.1 colorado 4.2 kentucky 4.3 minnesota 4.4 oklahoma 5 controversies 5.1 treatment of inmates and disclosure of shortcomings of oversight 5.2 lobbying efforts 5.3 lawsuit about gang influence in idaho prison 5.4 co operation with local law enforcement in a school drug sweep 5.5 2012 fatal prison riot in mississippi facility 5.6 prison fights and fatalities in oklahoma 5.7 homeland security oversight 6 see also 7 references 8 further reading 9 external links history edit tallahatchie county correctional facility corrections corporation of america cca was founded in nashville tennessee on january 28 1983 by thomas w. beasley doctor robert crants and terrell don hutto . 3 6 beasley served as the chairman of the tennessee republican party ; crants was the chief financial officer of a real estate company in nashville ; hutto was the president elect of the american correctional association . 6 a founding member of its board of directors was maurice sigler the former chairman of the united states board of parole . 6 the initial investment came from jack c. massey the co founder of the hospital corporation of america . 7 an early investor prior to its ipo was vanderbilt university where beasley was a law graduate . 2 additionally the tennessee valley authority was another early financial backer . 7 the company opened its first facility the houston processing center in 1984 ; under contract to the u.s. department of justice for the bureau of immigration and customs enforcement formerly immigration and naturalization service . 8 the houston detention center was built to house individuals awaiting a decision on immigration cases or repatriation . 4 in 1984 cca also took over the operations of the tall trees non secure juvenile facility for the juvenile court of memphis and shelby county . two years later cca built the 200 bed shelby training center in memphis to house juvenile male offenders . in 1989 it opened the new mexico women s correctional facility in grants new mexico ; it had constructed this facility of 204 beds . 9 in the 1980s cca officials met with representatives of the socialist mitterrand administration in france . they did not win any contracts there for cca prisons . 8 in 1990 cca opened the first medium security privately operated prison the state owned winn correctional center in winn parish louisiana . 10 the leavenworth detention center operated for the u.s. marshals service was opened in 1992 . this 256 bed facility was the first maximum security private prison under direct contract with a federal agency . 11 cca entered the united kingdom in 1992 when it entered a partnership with mowlem and sir robert mcalpine to form uk detention services . it opened the 650 bed blackenhurst prison in worcestershire england . 8 the stockholders are mostly corporate entities . research published in social justice by scholars at rutgers university showed that in 2007 the company had 114 institutional stockholders that together amount ed to 28 736 071 shares of stock . 12 the scholars added the largest number of shares of cca stock is held by rs investments 3 296 500 wesleycapital mgmt 2 486 866 and capital research and mgmt 2 057 600 . 12 in 2010 the aclu filed a lawsuit on behalf of inmates at the idaho correctional center claiming that understaffing contributed to the high levels of violence there . in 2014 the federal bureau of investigation fbi began an investigation into cca management of the icc to ascertain whether any federal statutes were violated because of the understaffing of the facility and what had been found to be falsification of staffing records . 13 in 2016 the obama administration provided the cca a 1 billion no bid contract to detain asylum seekers from central america . 14 overview edit founded in 1983 corrections corporation of america cca owns or operates jails and prisons on contract with federal state and local governments . cca designs builds manages and operates correctional facilities and detention centers for the federal bureau of prisons immigration and customs enforcement the united states marshals service as well as state and county facilities across the united states . cca houses approximately 90 000 offenders and detainees in its more than 60 facilities ; it employs more than 17 000 persons nationwide . the american correctional association aca has accredited 90 % of cca s facilities . 15 aca s accreditation is a system of verification that correctional agencies and facilities comply with national standards promulgated by the american correctional association . accreditation is achieved through a series of reviews evaluations audits and hearings . 16 on august 18 2016 deputy u.s. attorney general sally yates announced that the justice department intended to end its bureau of prisons contracts with for profit prison operators because its own analysis concluded ... the facilities are both less safe and less effective at providing correctional services ... than the federal bureau of prisons . 17 in a memorandum yates continued for profit ... prisons served an important role during a difficult period but time has shown that they compare poorly to our own bureau facilities . they simply do not provide the same level of correctional services programs and resources ; they do not save substantially on costs ; and as noted in a recent report by the department s office of inspector general they do not maintain the same level of safety and security . the rehabilitative services that the bureau provides such as educational programs and job training have proved difficult to replicate and outsource and these services are essential to reducing recidivism and improving public safety . 18 inmate rehabilitation edit a critical aspect of america s prison system includes reentry and rehabilitation programs for inmates . 19 such programs often include education vocational training addiction treatment as well as faith based programs . cca says it offers basic adult education post secondary education gre preparation and testing and literacy programs to all inmates . the department of justice s bureau of justice statistics reported in 2008 that only 60 % of privately run facilities offered programming to inmates . according to national research providing inmates with education and vocational programs can reduce the likelihood that offenders will commit new offenses upon release and return to prison . 20 in 1993 cca launched the lifeline substance abuse training program at the metro davidson county detention facility in nashville tennessee . in the early 21st century cca offers the program in 23 of its 60 facilities . 21 in addition to the reentry and rehabilitation programs prisons often offer inmates recreational and optional faith based opportunities . the latter is considered an integral part of inmate rehabilitation 22 occupancy and profitability edit in a 1990s report prudential securities was bullish on cca but noted it takes time to bring inmate population levels up to where they cover costs . low occupancy is a drag on profits ... company earnings would be strong if cca succeeded in ramp ing up population levels in its new facilities at an acceptable rate . 23 in 2011 responding to an initiative from the state of ohio to reduce overhead costs by saving 13 million annually while adding 700 beds to house inmates in the overcrowded system corrections corporation of america agreed to buy the lake erie correctional institution for 72.7 million . this is a change in company policy as previously cca had always constructed their own prisons . their purchase was contingent on the ohio department of rehabilitation and correction agreeing to contractual occupancy requirements . 24 the failure to find a buyer for many other prisons which the state offered for sale was taken as good news by the ohio civil service employees association the union for prison guards . in 2012 cca sent a letter to prison officials in 48 states offering to buy prisons from these states in exchange for a 20 year management contract and a guaranteed occupancy rate of 90 % . 25 community organizations have criticized the proposals arguing that the contractual obligations of states to fill the prisons to 90 % occupancy are poor public policy that could force communities into creating criminals . they believe that these contractual clauses end up costing taxpayers more than state run prisons would . 26 employment difficulties edit cca was named in 2008 as one of the 100 best corporate citizens by corporate responsibility officer magazine . 27 the national military magazine gi jobs has highlighted cca as a solid employer for veterans ; 28 it has ranked cca as one of its top 50 military friendly jobs on four not in citation given separate occasions . 29 but in 2010 a muskogee oklahoma federal court jury found cca guilty of violating the employment rights of a shift supervisor by terminating his job when he was deployed to iraq . it determined that cca should pay about 53 000 in damages for violation of the uniformed services employment and re employment rights act . 30 cca agreed to pay over 152 000 in back wages to 96 oklahoma women denied employment because of gender discrimination . a u.s. department of labor audit showed women applicants who were equally or better qualified than men hired were rejected . 31 immigrant detention facilities edit while the prison industry was experiencing a decline largely because privatization was under fire in the late 20th century . there had been widespread reports of escapes inmate violence and deplorable conditions in such private facilities . declining crime rates reduced the need for prisons but speculative prison building had increased competition . but the company and the industry as a whole rebounded in the early 2000s following a massive increase in the number of illegal immigrant detentions in the wake of 9 11 . this created a new market for its facilities . from 2001 to 2011 cca revenue increased 88 percent and they received at least 1 billion in revenue for each of the eight years from