Arizona PrisonTalks Delayed

Coolidge Examiner

City officials will have to wait until the dust is settled from gubernatorial election before they know whether or not they can move forward on a private prison for Coolidge.

The project also hit a snag when in July when three prisoners escaped from a facility near Kingman, Ariz.
A minimum- and medium-security private prison was approved by City Council over the summer.

“I think it’s been without question that the council has fully supported this from the moment we heard about the project, and the fact that we could be a player in the game,” Mayor Tom Shope said in June.



The prison could potentially bring 800 jobs to Coolidge.

The bid, along with others, is in the hands of state officials, submitted by Utah-based Management & Training Corporation and Hale-Mills Construction.

Shope believes the prison could be up for discussion again as soon as January. According to Shope, Jan Brewer, the republican candidate for governor, supports private prisons, while Terry Goddard, the democratic candidate, does not.

The state has no time line to adhere to before awarding the contract for the facility to house state inmates.

There are currently no provisions within the city’s zoning ordinance to allow a prison, so city and zoning officials opted for a special use permit for the prison.

During the council meeting over the summer, Chamber of Commerce board members also declared their backing, according to Co-Director Lynn Parsons.

“The traffic that a project of this type will produce during the course of construction and permanent employment, once completed, would be an economic shot in the arm for our existing local businesses and could also be a catalyst to stimulate new business growth in our community,” said Tom Bagnall, a member of the chamber board, during the council meeting in June.