The big (empty) house

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


A new prison set to open in Stewart County, Ga. next month will have everything a correctional facility could need … except prisoners. The ASSOCIATED PRESS reports in the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION that Corrections Corporation of America — the subject of a recent exposé in Mother Jones — is near completion of a $45 million medium-security prison that is apparently the result of a miscommunication.

“This was just a speculative project; we just don’t need the beds right now,” said Georgia’s corrections commissioner. The fact that there was never a written agreement for the prison’s construction did not deter CCA from building it. Construction is now at a standstill, with two-thirds of the facility completed.

This is bad news for Stewart County, which badly needs the 500 jobs the prison would create. As an alternative, CCA may apply to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to house 1,500 illegal immigrants in the new prison. If that doesn’t work, look on the bright side: At least the building will keep that new-prison smell.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate