Florida Vote Halts Largest Private-Jail Plan in Geo Setback
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Florida’s Senate blocked a plan to create the largest private-prison system in the U.S., handing a setback to a Geo Group Inc. unit that will instead seek to expand outside the Sunshine State, according to its president.
“There are still a lot of opportunities,” Jorge Dominicis, president of the Boca Raton, Florida-based company’s Geo Care unit, said after the vote yesterday in Tallahassee, the capital. “There are other states looking at doing similar things and you’re seeing things happening abroad.”
Dominicis declined to comment on whether Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, should use executive authority to privatize the prisons following the vote. Scott skirted the same question, saying he wanted lawmakers to pass the proposal.
Scott, 59, couldn’t muster enough support in the Senate, which rejected the measure, 21-19. The plan was projected to save $16.5 million a year, helping to curb a sixth consecutive annual deficit. As states cope with the aftermath of the longest recession since the Great Depression, asset sales and shifting traditional roles to companies has increased.
Since 2005, the number of state prisoners in private jails nationwide rose 16.7 percent, while the total prison population climbed 4.1 percent, according to U.S. Justice Department data.
14,500 Inmates
Florida would have moved 14,500 inmates from more than two dozen prisons and work camps into company-run facilities. The state, with a total budget of $69.6 billion, spends $268 million a year to run the lockups with 3,800 workers, according to a legislative analysis.
Had the proposal passed, it would have been “the largest single contract procurement in the history of our industry,” Geo Group Chief Executive Officer George Zoley said on an August conference call with investors. The company operates in the U.S., Australia, South Africa and the U.K., its website shows. Its shares fell about 5 percent to $17.75 at 11:05 a.m. in New York, the biggest drop in six months.
American International Group Nashville Tn - News
10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve secretly selected a handful of banks to bid for debt securities acquired by taxpayers in the US bailout of American International Group Inc., and the rest of Wall Street is wondering what happened to the
Enlarge image Fed Plays Wall Street Favorites in Secret Deals Fed Plays Wall Street Favorites in Secret Deals JB Reed/ The American International Group Inc.'s (AIG) building in New York. Enlarge image AIG AIG Daniel Acker/ The
Geo and Nashville, Tennessee-based Corrections Corp. of America, the largest US prison contractor, both expressed interest in bidding for Florida's prisoners. The two companies operate six of the state's seven privately run lockups.
based Strategic Engagement Group. Attending officers will receive 24 training hours towards a required 40 per year from the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, the state agency whose website says it is responsible for “developing
Hendrix had worked at Franklin American Mortgage Co. and has been on the Tennessee Association of Mortgage Professionals board. Jim McDonald will be a mortgage loan originator with the bank. He has worked for SunTrust, Wells Fargo and GMAC Mortgage,