California is sending 21 hundred inmates to three private prisons within the state. James Black is with the GEO group, which operates the facilities. He said GEO’s prisons must meet the same standards the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation must meet.
“All of our facilities are ACA accredited, American Correctional Association accredited,” he said. “We still operate under the oversight of the entity that we are contracted with. So we still operate under, basically, CDCR oversight.”
Black said California is paying GEO $60 per inmate per day. He expects all 21 hundred transfers to be complete by the beginning of December. The inmates require medium-level security.
California has been ordered to reduce its prison population by more than 8,000 inmates by the end of February. These transfers are part of an effort to comply.