The Informant

According to a press release issued yesterday, profits are up for the Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest private prison company. The stats comparing the first half of 2010 with the first half of 2011 show:

• Total revenue up 5.5% to $860.9 million from $815.7 million
• Net income up 15.7% to $82.7 million from $71.5 million
• Diluted EPS up 22.6% to $0.76 from $0.62
• Adjusted Diluted EPS up 18.8% to $0.76 from $0.64
• EBITDA up 11.5% to $224.3 million from $201.2 million

The boon, the release states, was “primarily driven by a 5.4% increase in average daily inmate populations.” Specifically, an influx of inmates from “a new contract with the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) at our Nevada Southern Detention Center combined with higher USMS populations in certain facilities predominantly located in the southwestern region of the United States, as well as per diem increases associated with certain federal contracts.”

The company also seems confident growth will continue:

We continue to believe the long-term growth opportunities of our business remain attractive as our partners seek cost effective corrections solutions and as insufficient bed development by our partners should result in a return to the supply and demand imbalance that has benefitted the partnership corrections industry.

CCA says it plans on spending “$52.0 million to $62.0 million in on-going prison construction and expenditures related to potential land acquisitions” in 2011. CCA currently houses 9,300 inmates from California–a number the company does not expect to change until the state determines how its realignment plan, shifting inmates to local jails, works out.