Lawmakers will consider private prison company to build a new state pen

Wyoming may enlist a private prison company to build a new state penitentiary if lawmakers opt against repairing the existing facility, which is cracking and shifting due to the unstable ground below it.

Critics blasted the idea of contracting with a for-profit prison industry, considering Wyoming's past troubles when sending inmates out of state. They also called it fiscally unwise.

The 15-year-old Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins, home to about 650 inmates, was built over an old lake bed and is experiencing significant structural problems. Repair work to address those issues forced prison officials to put inmates on lockdown for almost two days in December.

Wyoming House Speaker Steve Harshman, a Republican from Casper, said he recently met with representatives of CoreCivic, which is the new brand of Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest private prison operator.

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