The Department of Justice's
Reliance on Private Contractors for Prison Services

Report No. 01-16
July 31, 2001
Office of the Inspector General

REVIEW SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY

We performed our review between January and March 2001. During that period, we obtained background information on CCA, WCC, and Cornell Corrections. In addition, we reviewed audit reports on CCA and PRT issued by the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the companies' independent auditors. We also reviewed documents related to CCA's October 2000 reorganization and documents prepared for its December 2000 annual stockholders meeting. At the USMS, the INS, and the BOP, we obtained data on the extent to which each component contracted directly, or indirectly through IGAs, with private contractors for prison services. Information on the extent that the INS relies on IGAs that are actually operated by private contractors was not readily available. Therefore, we estimated the number of prisoners in such facilities by comparing lists of CCA, WCC, and Cornell facilities to an INS list of its detention facilities. We also obtained information on the status of each component's efforts to develop contingency plans.

Further, we interviewed officials in JMD to discuss the role of the Detention Planning Committee in coordinating and monitoring the development of components' contingency plans. Our work was conducted as an "other activity of an audit organization" pursuant to section 2.10 of Government Auditing Standards.