Private prison company gets $1 million to house inmates who don’t exist

Scott Kaufman rawstory.com Lobbyists for the private prison company GEO Group convinced lawmakers to include almost $1 million extra in funding despite the fact that the Arizona Department of Corrections claimed the money wasn’t needed. Late last Friday, Arizona House Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) placed the extra funding into the budget because GEO Group’s lobbyists informed him that the company wasn’t profiting enough off of emergency beds it provides Arizona prisons. “This is somebody getting a handout,” Arizona House Minority Leader Chad Campbell (D-Phoenix) said. “It’s unnecessary. This came out of nowhere — I mean that. No one said a word about it. It wasn’t in the Senate budget, it didn’t come as a request from DOC. There’s something really shady here.” A spokesman from the Arizona Department of Corrections, Doug Nick, concurred, saying that his agency did not seek additional funding from GEO Group. “We did not request it,” Nick said. “We had nothing to do with it.” to read more: rawstory.com