Source: Union Leader, April 9, 2013
Less than a week after the state corrections department cancelled the bidding process for privatizing state prisons because of alleged low-quality proposals, the department’s chief asked lawmakers Tuesday not to take the further step of banning privatization through state law. Commissioner William Wrenn testified before the state Senate Finance Committee in opposition to House Bill 443, which would prohibit the corrections department from transferring New Hampshire prisoners to a correctional facility operated by a private or for-profit entity. That would include any in-state arrangement or transfer out-of-state. An exception in the bill would allow transfers to privately-run facilities when the governor declares by executive order that a “corrections emergency” exists….
Related:
New Hampshire drops bid to privatize state’s prisons
Source: Annmarie Timmins, Concord Monitor, April 4, 2013
The state announced yesterday that it has dropped its bid to privatize the state’s prisons because none of the four companies that wanted the job showed they could meet court-ordered requirements for inmate care. The private prison companies also proposed wages and benefits that are half what security staff at the prisons earn now, according to two reports on the bids released yesterday by the state Department of Administrative Services and Department of Corrections….
Report on Review of Correctional Facility RFPs 1356-12,1380-12 and 1387-12
Source: State Of New Hampshire, Department of Corrections and Department of Administrative Services, April 2013
Final Report: Correctional Facility RFP Evaluations
Source: State Of New Hampshire, Department of Corrections and Department of Administrative Services, prepared by MGT of America, March 2013
Privatizing N.H. prisons in for a cooler reception
Source: Annmarie Timmins, Concord Monitor, December 5, 2012
The Executive Council voted yesterday to continue studying privatizing the state’s prisons, but going private has lost its biggest supporters at the State House. Incoming governor Maggie Hassan opposes putting inmate care in private hands, as does a majority of the next Executive Council. And Democrats, who have taken control of the House, haven’t shared their Republican counterparts’ appetite for privatization. But partial privatization – allowing a private company to build a prison the state would run – may have support in at least the corner office.
New Hampshire Lawmakers Are Pushing To Privatize The State’s Entire Prison System
Source: Christopher Petrella, Business Insider, August 18, 2012
N.H. seeks ‘over the shoulder’ consultant in prison privatization decision
Source: Bob Sanders, New Hampshire Business Review, June 13, 2012
The state of New Hampshire may not only be moving toward privatizing its entire prison system, but it is also partially privatizing the process involved in making the decision.
June 5 was the deadline for a private prison consulting firm to respond to a request for proposal for a firm that can look “over the shoulder” (in the RFP’s words) of state officials from two departments as they sift through as many as 20 binders of documents and some 900 drawings submitted by four vendors who are seeking to operate the state’s prison system. That weeding-out process should take from July 11 to Sept. 30….
…The four potential operators- Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), Management & Training Corporation (MTC), The Geo Group Inc. and the Hunt Companies — earlier this year responded to RFPs to build and operate a new private prison (one for men only as well as a hybrid facility) that would handle all of the state’s inmate population as well as prisoners from other states….
A Plan to Privatize a State’s Entire Male Prison System
Source: Abby Rapoport, American Prospect, May 21, 2012
Editorial – A proposal to privatize New Hampshire’s prisons raises concerns
Source: Editorial, Sentinel, May 11, 2012
N.H. officials mull private prison bids / Some have doubts over cost savings
Source: Annmarie Timmins, Concord Monitor, April 8, 2012
With four companies interested in the job, state officials are again deciding whether putting the state’s prisons in private hands is a way to cut corrections costs. The idea may have more political support now than it did last time, in 2004, but serious doubts about cost savings and inmate security are as strong as ever….Three of the four companies that recently submitted bids to take over the state’s prisons have two or more lobbyists in the state. And their 2011 profit margins – one bidder saw a $167 million profit, the other a $77 million profit – illustrates Lacey’s main concern about privatization.