Winn Sheriff makes bid to acquire CCA prison By Tom Aswell • Baton Rouge Six bidders, including Winn Parish Sheriff A.D. "Bodie" Little, have submitted formal proposals to purchase and manage two state correctional facilities in Winn and Allen Parishes. Other bidders include two companies that presently operate the two facilities and two Louisiana companies that currently operate correctional centers in Louisiana, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. One Louisiana company, Louisiana Workforce of St. Francisville, expressed a desire to bid through its legal counsel but did not submit an actual proposal and a seventh company, Inland Public Properties Development of Austin, TX., submitted a bid on the purchase, but instead of bidding on the purchase of the prisons, it recommended that the state lease the prisons for 20 years under one contract and have a shorter-term operator agreement so that the state would be free to change operators without impacting the real estate status. Inland's bid was for leasing the facilities from the state and charging a lower per bed per diem fee. Proposals were submitted to Corrections Undersecretary Ron Granier. The department's request for information (RFI) stipulated that the purchase price of the two 1538-bed prisons was $33 million each. The RFI also specified that bidders submit two proposals. Option One would quote a set per diem range to be charged the state to house prisoners for all 20 years of the proposed contract term. Option Two specified a lower set per diem range for years one through three and a separate per diem range for years four through 20. Corrections Corp. of America (CCA) of Nashville, TN., which presently operates the Winn Parish facility and the GEO Group of Boca Raton, FL., which operates the Allen Parish facility, also submitted proposals to purchase both prisons. LaSalle Management Co., dba LaSalle Corrections, of Ruston and Emerald Correctional Management of Shreveport also submitted bid proposals. LaSalle operates correctional centers in Homer, Richwood, Harrisonburg, Jonesboro, Urania, Ruston, and Ferriday in Louisiana and four others in Texas. Emerald operates the West Carroll Detention Center in Epps and facilities in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The other out-of-state bidder was Management & Training Corp. of Centerville, UT. Bidders were allowed a range of bids based on
guaranteed bed occupancy rates of 96% and 100%\par
}{\plain Bidders and their per diem (rent per-bed
per-day) proposals included: |