$20 Million Private Jail to Keep Florida Inmates Close to Home

FOLKSTON, Georgia — Private prison operator Cornell Corrections Inc. unveiled a new $20 million addition to the D. Ray James Prison that will house inmates from Charlton County.

The opening of the 318-bed facility will allow Charlton County authorities to jail inmates locally for the first time in 12 years, officials say. The new $20 million addition to the complex forms part of an ongoing major expansion plan designed to more than double bed capacity.

A new 780-bed pod-style housing unit is currently under construction. Cornell has plans to construct two additional housing pods in the future, increasing capacity at the prison to approximately 4,300 beds, officials say.

D. Ray James Prison opened as a 500-bed medium-security facility in 1998 and became the largest privately operated prison in the state when capacity was expanded to 1,640 inmates.
Charlton County has paid other counties in the region to house its inmates since 1995, when county officials closed and demolished the aging county jail in the wake of a class-action lawsuit filed by inmates over jail conditions.

County officials refused to build a new 84-bed facility — mandated by a federal judge in response to the inmate lawsuit — citing inability to finance the project.

With the private prison complex relatively close to the county courthouse, housing inmates at the new facility will significantly reduce transportation costs, speed up the trial process and improve safety, officials say.

Under the terms of the contract with Cornell, the county will pay the private prison operator $37 per inmate per day. Cornell also maintains contracts to house state and federal inmates at the complex.