Goodyear, Ariz., Says State's $100M Prison Plan Is Bad for Business

DALLAS — While other Arizona cities compete for a $100 million private prison on behalf of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Goodyear has threatened to sue the state if it decides to build another lockup in its backyard.

Under a resolution approved by the City Council on Monday, Goodyear officials are authorized to file suit if the state chooses to add a prison to the existing site known as Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville. The state Legislature chose that site for the prison in 1980, despite Goodyear's opposition.

Now, the city is fighting the new 5,000-inmate facility, claiming that officials broke promises to limit the population of ASPC-Perryville to 1,400 inmates. The prison now houses 4,274.

If the state adds a second prison, Goodyear would have the second-largest Arizona state inmate population behind Florence at 9,570 inmates, a city staff report said.

"As a result, the city could develop the reputation of being a prison town, ultimately negatively impacting the city's ability to attract Fortune 500 companies or Internet-software companies, or even diverse tourism," the report said.

With a 2010 population of 65,275. Goodyear was one of the fastest-growing cities in Arizona until the housing collapse of 2008, the year it was named an All-American City.

As a bedroom community for Phoenix and Luke Air Force Base, Goodyear has joined with nearby Glendale in promoting its tourism and safety. When the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closure process was underway in 2005, Goodyear and Glendale joined with other cities in the area known as the West Valley to keep Luke AFB open.

Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians moved their spring training facility to Goodyear from Winter Haven, Fla., in 2009 after the council unanimously approved a $33 million spring training facility for the team to share with the Cincinnati Reds.

Last March, Standard & Poor's raised its underlying ratings on the city's senior-lien and subordinate-lien revenue bonds by two notches to A-plus from A-minus. The agency also assigned its A-plus long-term rating and stable outlook to the city's series 2011 subordinate-lien water and sewer revenue obligations.

With the state's major employer, the construction industry, in a state of deep recession, Arizona officials are hoping to boost employment for low-skilled workers and lower costs by shifting inmates out of public prisons to private, for-profit operators. Working against the potential profits is a falling rate of incarceration.

Private, for-profit prison operator GEO Group Inc. would build a 2,000- to 5,000-bed prison for minimum- and medium-security male inmates in Goodyear if the state approves, at a cost $100 million to $250 million.

A GEO executive said the prison would provide an annual payroll of up to $51 million and 1,000 construction jobs.

Goodyear is one of five sites ADOC is considering to house 5,000 inmates under a 20-year contract. The others are Coolidge, Winslow, San Luis, and Eloy. A decision is possible by next month.

Unlike Goodyear, other cities are strongly supporting the prison.

Eloy, which already has four prisons, would welcome a fifth from Corrections Corporation of America, according to Mayor Byron Jackson, a former employee of a private prison operator. Coolidge is urging Management and Training Corp. to build its prison there.

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