CCA Commences Construction of New Correctional Facility in Arizona

February 1, 2005
Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE: CXW), the nation's largest provider of corrections management services to government, has commenced construction of the Red Rock Correctional Center, a new 1,596-bed, medium-security correctional facility. The new facility will be owned and managed by CCA and is expected to cost approximately $75 million. The project is currently slated for completion during the first quarter of 2006.

The facility will be located on CCA-owned land adjacent to the Company?s Eloy Detention Center, a 1,500-bed facility housing inmates for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. CCA has operated the Eloy facility since 1995.

CCA management has indicated that capacity at the new facility is intended primarily for existing CCA customers, including approximately 750 inmates from the state of Alaska that are currently being held at the Company?s Florence Correctional Center, as well as inmates from other jurisdictions that are being held at various other CCA facilities. The Company expects that the capacity being made available at the Florence facility as a result of relocating Alaskan inmates will be offered to federal customers currently occupying both the Florence and Central Arizona facilities including the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

CCA?s Red Rock Correctional Center is the first facility to feature the Company's new facility design prototype, which has been under development since 2003. In addition to new design concepts, the facility will employ state-of-the art technology, including CCA's new IMS2 inmate management system, currently being deployed in CCA facilities across the country.

The Red Rock Correctional Center is the latest in a series of capital projects undertaken by CCA to meet increasing customer demands. During 2004, the Company undertook expansion projects at six facilities that will result in the addition of approximately 1,650 beds. In addition, the Company expects to complete the construction of its Stewart County, Georgia facility in early 2005 which will add an additional 1,500 beds to the Company?s capacity.

"The construction of our Red Rock Correctional Center is a positive step for CCA," said President and CEO John Ferguson. "Our Company is pursing a path of carefully planned growth, as dictated by the needs of our public sector partners. This new facility will enable us to better meet the needs of several of our customers requiring bed space in Arizona and is reflective of CCA?s commitment to assist our customers in dealing with the ongoing tight supply of prison beds nationwide