Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Sad End to a Sad Story

Just wanted to give a quick update to a story that's fallen a bit by the wayside; the still vacant private prison in Hardin, Montana.  After being constructed on speculation by Corplan Corrections, the facility sat vacant for years after Corplan failed to help the town secure a contract to fill it.  Various proposals came up for the facility, including using it for a reality TV show, but it remained empty for years, eventually costing Hardin nearly $10,000 per month in utilities just to keep it from falling apart.  A career con man tried to purchase the facility through a company known as the American Private Police Force, but that deal fell through as well.  The director of the group that purchased the facility lost his job after it defaulted on its bond payments.

Now it turns out the facility will likely be returned to the bondholders who financed it.  Basically, this would allow for the city to get the facility and its maintenance off its hands (and budget, for that matter), and the bondholders would be able to pursue contracts to fill it.  But given the track record of failure, I think that's not likely to happen.

UPDATE: It's now official: the jail, valued at $26 million, has been returned to the bondholders.

2 comments:

  1. WATCHED THIS ON MSNBC AS A DOCUMENTARY. HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE TAX ROLLS, SINCE IT'S COSTING THE TOWN OVER $10,000 PER MONTH FOR UTILITIES ON AN EMPTY FACILITY. THIS IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF WHAT PRIVATE INDUSTRY WILL DO TO A TOWN, JUST TO CONSTRUCT FOR PROFIT. THERE SHOULD BE NO INCARCERATION FOR PROFIT PRISONS. IT SHOULD REMAIN UNDER THE SCRUTINY OF GOVERNMENT.

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  2. Unreal. It's amazing the daze that Prison Inc put the officials in Hardin in. They looked like mind numbed zombies as they talked about how good "Captain" Michael Hilton was. My gosh, there are suckers born every minute.

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