A Tennessee corrections company is looking at building a private prison at an industrial park in Storey County.
Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America has started an application for a permit that would allow it to build a prison holding up to 3,000 inmates and employing about 600 workers on about 500 acres of land in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center east of Reno.
The Storey County Planning Commission could approve the permit for the prison at its Jan. 15 meeting.
The company is looking at several places to build a new private prison including Storey County, but it does not have a contract yet to build, according to Louise Grant, a company representative.
Corrections Corporation of America builds and manages public and private prisons and jails. Its Web site, www.correctionscorp.com, says the company manages more than half the inmates at private prisons in the country as "the fourth-largest corrections system in the nation, behind only the federal government and two states."
The company has a contract to build a federal detention center in Nye County and used to manage a women's prison in Las Vegas, according to Grant.
The land available at the industrial park makes Storey County attractive to the company, she said.
"At this point, we certainly have had discussions with local Storey County leaders and we are exploring those options," she said.
Austin Osborne, a county planner, said the company has not completely finished an application or paid the fees to seek a permit for the private prison.
The county can't issue a permit until those steps are taken, he said.
- Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.