Private Prisons

The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) currently has contracts with two private prison companies, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Corporation. Combined, these facilities are contracted to house 7,974 offenders in four (4) private facilities. In 1997, through a bid process, GDC entered into a contract with Cornell Companies, Inc. to build and operate D. Ray James prison in Folkston, and with Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to build and operate private prisons in Alamo (Wheeler Correctional Facility) and in Nicholls (Coffee Correctional Facility). The contract has expired with the D. Ray James Correctional Facility and it is no longer part of the corrections continuum in Georgia.

In September 2010, GDC contracted with CCA to build and operate a private prison in Millen (Jenkins Correctional Facility) that opened in March 2012. In July 2010, GDC contracted with the GEO Corporation that built and opened a private prison in Milledgeville (Riverbend Correctional Facility). In December of 2011, Riverbend CF opened and became operational. As required by contract the private prisons the agency contracts with, are accredited by the American Correctional Association (ACA) and by the Medical Association of Georgia (MAG).

GDC has a full-time Private Prison Monitor onsite at each private facility overseeing the facility's operations to ensure that all contract conditions are met and that the facility operates with a continuous focus on sanitation, safety and security. Just as in GDC facilities, inmates work on full-time details and are afforded the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of educational classes and counseling programs.

For more information regarding Private Prisons please take a look at our Private Prisons Fact Sheet .