Prior to the announced merger in Dec. 1999, Corrections Corporation of America was Prison Realty`s major tenant. Prison Realty bought prisons and leased them back to governments and privates. It also contracted to build prisons to lease (just as U.S. Post Offices owners do) and it currently has 50 correctional facilities in 17 states and the U.K.

The newly configured company will operate under the CCA name. The merger and restructuring was facilitated by Fortress Investment Group, The Blackstone Group (a private investment bank in NYC) and the Bank of America committed to purchase 350 million in securities. The new investment enabled them to merge and ensures that the new company has the financial resources to prosper and grow.

The future does appear to be a prosperous one since they`ve negotiated a contract with Contex Rooney (a division of Contex Corp, the #1 rated construction company by Forbes) to build a 2,300 bed prison in Hawaii.

Hawaii Governor Cayetano preferred the prison be built on the mainland and Hawaiian prisoners be shipped their but the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would allow the prison to be privately operated in Hawaii. Correction Officers union officials oppose the privatization plan and may sue the state if the measure becomes law.

Sources:

CCA http://www.correctionscorp.com

Prison Realty Trust http://www.prisonreit.com/indexhome.html

Centex Corporation http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/18532/0000950134-00-000567.txt