DREW COUNTY, AR (Ben Caxton) — For the first time in more than 18 years, prisoners in Arkansas will be housed in a privately run facility. On Friday the Arkansas legislature approved a 20-year, $136 million contract with Drew and Bradley counties to house up to 500 inmates at a facility that will be operated by Louisiana-based LaSalle Corrections. The plan will allow Arkansas Department of Corrections to return more than 300 state inmates currently held at a privately run jail in Texas back to Arkansas, while also relieving overcrowding at state run prisons. Arkansas will pay about $8.1 million a year under the contract.
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