Private prison will pay Youngstown 300K a year

Private prison will pay Youngstown 300K a year

YOUNGSTOWN — The city has reached an agreement in principle with the owner of a private prison to settle a legal dispute over charging a $1-a-day prisoner tax.

The 7th District Court of Appeals ruled against the tax in a decision last month that could have been appealed to the state Supreme Court. That prompted officials with the city and the Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on the East Side, to settle the issue.

CCA, a for-profit company based in Nashville, Tenn., will pay an annual $300,000 fee to the city, beginning in January 2014.

The city had enacted the $1-per-prisoner, per-day tax in December 2009 on private prisons. Northeast Ohio Correctional Center is the city’s only private prison, housing about 2,000 inmates. About 75 percent are illegal immigrants convicted of felonies and held here through a contract with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, and the rest are U.S. Marshal’s office prisoners.

CCA owed about $1.5 million to the city before the court of appeals dismissed the case.

For the complete story, read Wednesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com