ATLANTA — Baldwin County, hit hard by state budget cuts and a sputtering economy, likely will get a new, 1,000-bed, private prison that would employ more than 200 people.
A contract essentially has been awarded, but a protest period must pass before the deal becomes final, and the General Assembly has to OK the details of a land lease for the facility in south Baldwin County.
The prison would be built by The GEO Group Inc. as part of the state’s continuing foray into the private prison business. It would be located in south Baldwin County adjacent to the existing Baldwin State Prison, state Sen. Johnny Grant, R-Milledgeville, said Tuesday.
The company would be paid $19.1 million a year to run the facility, which would have 1,000 beds but eventually could expand to 2,500 beds, according to the state Department of Administrative Services, which handled the contract bidding.
The property would be provided by the state for a nominal fee, a department spokesman said. The company wants a 40-year lease instead of a 25-year one, so the General Assembly will have to approve that change before the deal is final, according to a state award document.
A spokesman for The GEO Group declined to comment Tuesday, noting the waiting period before the contract is finalized and referring comment to state officials.
Construction would begin soon, with the prison opening in a year or so, Grant said. It would employ about 235 people, the senator said, and help take the place of several state facilities closed in recent years.
The state closed Scott and River’s state prisons over the past year or so, and they had employed nearly 550 people between them. Two others, Bostick and Men’s, are likely to close, and together they employ about 287 people.
These facilities were not originally built to be prisons, Grant said Tuesday. They have poor sight lines and other construction issues that made them more expensive to operate as prisons, requiring more personnel than newer facilities, he said.
State Rep. Rusty Kidd, I-Milledgeville, said the new prison should realize other savings by contracting with Central State Hospital for laundry and food services.
“I think it’s good for Milledgeville, good for Baldwin County, good for the state,” Kidd said of the deal.
GEO Group was up against two other companies that would have built prisons in other parts of the state, a state award document shows. Both of those projects would have been more expensive.
Grant said there may be other positive economic announcements coming for Baldwin County — both public and private — but he was mum on the details Tuesday.
“There are a number of other irons in the fire,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything quite ready to come out yet.”
To contact writer Travis Fain, call 361-2702.
