Sunday, July 31, 2011

Wanna buy a prison ?

 From our friends over at Grits For Breakfast

One named after a former Texas Speaker of the House, no less? At 11 a.m. today you get your chance. Reports AP:

A prison that a Texas High Plains town hoped would provide a bonanza but instead went broke is going on the auction block.

Littlefield is putting the Bill Clayton Detention Center up for auction Thursday with a $5 million minimum opening bid. Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams & Williams Worldwide Real Estate Auction is handling the bidding. Its throwing in the furniture, linen, computers, kitchen supplies and other equipment contained in the 30-acre complex 36 miles northwest of Lubbock.

Littlefield built the 373-bed, medium-security prison with proceeds from an $11 million bond issue and signed The GEO Group to run it. The hope was for states experiencing prison overcrowding to pay to house its inmates there.

Instead, escapes, corruption and living conditions prompted states to withdraw their inmates, leaving an empty prison.
In a story behind their paywall, the Dallas News reported that there were at least six interested buyers, including private prison firms and "other municipalities needing more space for inmates." (We may safely assume Lubbock isn't among them, since they've got a near-empty jail competing with the Littlefield facility.) Go here to bid or watch the auction online.



click HERE for the entire article !

1 comment:

  1. What do you bet that the same company, GEO Group, that left the city holding bag is the confidential bidder who actually got the facility for six million? Almost looks like GEO Group and the developer had this scam planned from the very start. Brazoria County lost big on their detention center. Somehow BC was able to conceal their blunder from the tax payers.

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