Basic Information
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)
10 Burton Hills, Blvd. Nashville, TN 37215
Phone: (615) 263-3000
www.cca.com
Sector(s): Correctional and Detention Facilities
SIC code(s): 8744, Facilities Support Management Services
Corrections Corporation of America is the nation's largest owner and operator of for-profit correctional and detention facilities and one of the largest prison operators in the United States, behind only the federal government and three states. CCA currently owns and operates more than 65 facilities including 47 company-owned facilities, with a design capacity of more than 90,000 beds in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
"This isn't even what we know of as a prison -- this is a gulag." -- ACLU attorney Steven Pevar, describing conditions at the CCA-run Idaho Correctional Center where the violence rate is three times higher than in other Idaho prison facilities. (Source: Associated Press, 11/30/2010)
Number of employees: approximately 17,000 workers- 370 in corporate offices and 16,630 in facilities and transport businesses. None of their facilities, offices, or subsidiaries are unionized.
Revenue: $1.77 billion, 100% of which comes from taxpayers via government contracts (2012)
Operations
Parent Company: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)
Subsidiaries:
First Tier Subsidiaries:
CCA of Tennessee, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company
CCA TRS, LLC, a Maryland limited liability company
CCA (UK) Ltd., a United Kingdom corporation
Second Tier Subsidiaries:
CCA International, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company
Technical and Business Institute of America, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company
TransCor America, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company
TransCor Puerto Rico, Inc., a Puerto Rico corporation
CCA Health Services, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company
Prison Realty Management, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company
(Source: CCA 10-K, 2/27/2013)
Location(s): Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas
Regulatory Environment: CCA is currently accredited by the American Corrections Association (ACA), a private non-governmental organization providing self-created standards. There is currently is no oversight or regulation of the organization beyond its own staff. Eighty-five percent of CCA facilities are accredited by ACA.
Corporate subsidies:
Between 2010 and 2012, CCA received $785,535 in grants from the Oklahoma Tax Commission under the Quality Jobs Program. In Arizona, various CCA facilities have been designated enterprise zones by the Arizona Dept. of Commerce with associated favorable tax treatment. Between 2009 and 2010, CCA's Delta Correctional Facility in Mississippi received $56,367 in training reimbursement subsidies. (Source: Good Jobs First Subsidy Tracker)
Profit Margin: 8.91%
Management Profile
Highest paid executives:
Damon T. Hininger, President and CEO - $2,772,435 (12/2012)
Todd J. Mullenger, CFO - $1,415,655 (12/2012)
Anthony L. Grande, Chief Devt. Officer - $1,318,900 (12/2012)
(Source: Corrections Corporation of America, Schedule 14A filed 3/26/2013)
Corporate ownership:
% of Shares Held by All Insider and 5% Owners: 10%
% of Shares Held by Institutional & Mutual Fund Owners: 83%
The five top direct holders are either directors or officers of CCA.
Top Executives:
Damon T. Hininger, President and CEO
Brian D. Collins, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
Tony L. Grande, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer
Harley G. Lappin, Executive Vice President and Chief Corrections Officer
Todd J. Mullenger, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Additional Positions of Interest:
Dennis DeConcini (Board Member)- former senior Senator from the State of Arizona, an office he held for 18 years.
John D. Ferguson (Chairman of Board)- former Commissioner of Finance and Administration for the State of Tennessee
Donna Alvarado (Board Member)- Regent for the Ohio Board of Regents. She also served as US Defense Department Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defense (1983-95) and staffer for the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy (1981-83) and the Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control (1980-81).
Contract Problems
Following is a sample of the many problems at CCA-run facilities:
- When a private prison corporation paid Ohio $72.7 million in 2011 to purchase one of the state's facilities, the company touted the deal as a "groundbreaking" move that would serve as a model for other states looking to cut costs. But in the year since Corrections Corporation of America took over the 1,700-bed Lake Erie Correctional Institution, state audits have found patterns of inadequate staffing, delays in medical treatment and "unacceptable living conditions" inside the prison - including inmates lacking access to running water and toilets. The state docked the company nearly $500,000 in pay because of the violations. (Huffington Post, 2/2/13)
- For the second time in three months, the family of a Hawaii prisoner murdered at a private prison in Arizona filed a lawsuit against the State of Hawaii and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Clifford Medina, a 23-year-old citizen of Hawaii, was incarcerated at the CCA-operated Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz. He was killed by another inmate on June 8, 2010. According to the complaint, CCA's "pattern of greed-driven corner-cutting and short-staffing" contributed to Clifford's death, due to the company's deliberate indifference and failure to protect Clifford from harm. The complaint also contends that CCA failed to control gang violence at Saguaro, failed to properly classify prisoners and failed to adequately staff the prison. (ACLU, 5/23/2012)
- The state ordered private prison company Corrections Corporation of America to pay thousands of dollars and fix problems with drug and alcohol treatment and medical care at the Idaho Correctional Center. Ten of 13 drug and alcohol counselors at the prison near Boise aren't qualified to provide treatment under CCA's contract with the state, according to records obtained by The Associated Press... Among other problems found in the audits, inmates in the prison's infirmary were sometimes left alone, without any working pager or call-light system to call a nurse or doctor in an emergency. They also were going too long between medical checks by nursing staff. (AP, 6/1/2010)
More information about CCA contract problems:
- Private Corrections Working Group CCA Rap Sheet:
http://www.privateci.org/rap_cca.html
- AFSCME Privatization Update:
http://www.afscmeinfocenter.org/privatizationupdate?s=CCA&cat=5
- Federal Contractor Misconduct Database:
http://www.contractormisconduct.org/index.cfm/1,73,224,html?pnContractorID=170
Labor Record
NLRB: There are 9 board decisions and 10 administrative law judges' decisions pertaining to CCA. (Source: http://www.nlrb.gov/search/simple/all/%22corrections%20corporation%20of%20america%22)
OSHA: Between 2003 and 2012, there have been 10 OSHA inspections of CCA facilities, most of them generated by complaints.
- In May 2012, six current and former shift supervisors at CCA's Marion Adjustment Center in central Kentucky sued the company, alleging that it forced them to work extra hours and denied them overtime. The employees also alleged that the company denied them meal and rest breaks, and required employees to attend training sessions without pay. (Source: AP, 5/15/2012, http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9046620).
- In 2009, CCA and another company, Dominion Correctional Services LLC, agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle EEOC complaints from 21 female employees who claimed they suffered harassment from male supervisors and colleagues ranging from sexually explicit comments to rape. (Source: Denver Post, 10/14/2009)
- In 2008, Keith Barnwell, on behalf of all corrections officers employed by CCA, sued the company under the Fair Labor Standards Act alleging that CCA did not pay employees for work they performed before or after their scheduled shifts. In February 2009, the parties settled. CCA did not admit any liability or wrongdoing but agreed to pay $7 million in back pay to more than 30,000 employees. (Source: http://www.contractormisconduct.org/index.cfm/1,73,222,html?CaseID=1163)
- Also in 2008, six former nurses at the Marion County, Ind. Jail #2 sued CCA, claiming a racially hostile work environment and that they were retaliated against for attempting to report unsafe working conditions and other improprieties taking place at the jail. (http://www.contractormisconduct.org/index.cfm/1,73,222,html?CaseID=1164)
Political Activity
In 2012, CCA spent $970,000 on lobbying Congress and federal agencies. The company's Political Action Committee took in $282,090 and spent $305,957. 86% of CCA PAC's contributions in federal races went to Republican candidates. (Source: OpenSecrets.org)
CCA is also a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) which has promoted model legislation in corrections privatization. ALEC was able to get its prison privatization bills passed in Utah in 1999 and in Ohio in 2011. (Source: Profiting from Public Dollars: How ALEC and Its Members Promote Privatization of Government Services and Assets, 2012, http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/sites/default/files/ALEC_report_FINAL.pdf)
Financials
Other Resources:
For more information on CCA's campaign contribution and lobbying history, see Open Secrets Profile and Follow the Money Profile
For more information some background history on CCA, see Crocodyl Profile
Updated April 2013
