Lawmakers kill private prison bill
State lawmakers have killed a bill that would have allowed a privately run prison in Maine due to a lack of interest from companies to run it.
Proposed last year, the bill would have changed state law to allow incarceration of state inmates for profit, but it received lackluster support from legislators and was nearly killed by the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, according to The Associated Press. Sen. Stanley Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, pushed to keep the measure alive as a way to address increased care needs as Maine’s prisoners age. However, state officials found no interest from a company to build and run a facility for older inmates.
The Piscataquis town of Milo has been pushing for a privately run prison, and in December 2010, then-Governor-elect Paul LePage met with town officials and Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest prison operator, to try and make the deal happen.
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