
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 18, 1995                   TAG: 9502200003
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                 LENGTH: Short

PRISON BUILDER MUST COMPETE FOR STATE CONTRACT

It appears Corrections Corporation of America will have competition for a state contract to operate a private, 1,500-bed, medium-security prison.

State Public Safety Secretary Jerry Kilgore told a group of Wythe County prison opponents who came to Richmond on Wednesday that at least two other companies planned to bid for that prison.

With the state's having abolished parole and instituted longer sentences for violent crimes, its prison population is expected to grow, and part of that growth will be handled by private prisons. Kilgore said there will be about 3,500 private prison beds under contract by July, including 1,500 medium-security beds.

Memo: longer version ran in the New River Valley edition.

by CNB