anarcho-queer:

The Kentucky government has decided they not to renew a contract with the private Marion Adjustment Center which expired on Sunday, June 30th, meaning that for the first time in nearly 30 years Kentucky will soon be housing none of its inmates in privately-run prisons.

J. Michael Brown, the state Justice and Public Safety secretary, said in a news release last week that the move will save the state about $2 million a year. And he credited a 2011 law and other steps taken by the General Assembly and the Beshear administration that reformed sentencing and increased drug treatment opportunities.

“This has created, for the first time in a generation, an opportunity to manage our inmate population with existing DOC (Department of Corrections) facilities, county jails and local halfway houses,” Brown said in a news release.

The state inmate population is dipping — from 22,102 inmates last November to 20,591 today, according to Jennifer Brislin, spokeswoman for the cabinet.

Kentucky began contracting out the care of some inmates to private prisons in 1985, Brislin said, and for many years had three private prisons under contract.

The state will now have up to 120 days to move the 794 inmates now at Marion Adjustment to other facilities, Tuesday’s news release said. But the exact timing of the transition will be decided in talks between the state and the owner of Marion Adjustment, Corrections Corporation of America.

One private prison continues to operate in Lee County. But it holds inmates from other states, not Kentucky.