Source: Associated Press (AZ), Feb. 8, 2007 06:04 PM

Three private companies will compete with each other and – for the first time – the state Department of Corrections to provide 3,000 new prison beds to help house Arizona’s bulging prison population. ….. However, it was Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano who insisted that the DOC be allowed to compete for the chance to provide the 3,000 minimum-security beds.

……. Arizona already has 4,200 state inmates in private prisons, including 1,400 housed in Oklahoma, out of a total prison population of approximately 35,000.

…… Along with the Corrections Department, three private prison operators submitted sealed proposals by Thursday’s deadline for all or some of the 3,000 beds: GEO Group Inc., based a Boca Raton, Fla.; Management & Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, and Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America.