A Tennessee corrections company is looking at building a private prison at an industrial park in Storey County.
Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America, the largest private prison business in the country, has started an application for a permit that would allow it to build a prison on about 500 acres of land in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center east of Reno.
It would hold up to 3,000 inmates and employ about 600 workers, according to the company.
The Storey County Planning Commission could approve the permit for the prison at its Jan. 15 meeting.
Corrections Corporation of America is looking at several places, including Storey County, to build a new private prison, said company representative Louise Grant. It does not have a contract to build yet, however, she said.
The company builds, designs and manages public and private prisons and jails. Its Web site, www.correctionscorp.com, says the company manages more than half the private prison inmates in the country.
The company is "the fourth-largest corrections system in the nation, behind only the federal government and two states," according to the site.
The company also has a contract to build a federal detention center in Nye County and used to manage a women's prison in Las Vegas about nine years ago, Grant said.
The Nye County detention center was approved by the county in December after two years of negotiations and public criticism of the company and the center's effects on the county.
The Las Vegas women's prison was taken over by the Nevada Department of Corrections because the company's management wasn't "conducive" to how the state thought a prison should be run, according to department representative Greg Smith.
The decision to allow private prisons is up to each county, he said.
The company is looking at Storey County because of available land and the possibility of state and federal contracts, Grant 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 a permit 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.