The council voted Monday to enter into a three-year, $15 million contract with CoreCivic — the company previously known as Corrections Corporation of America that already operates state facilities in Florence and Eloy — to transport and house misdemeanor offenders in a separate section of its Florence facility.
Currently, the Mesa Police Department, and every other Valley police agency, transports misdemeanor offenders to Maricopa County's Fourth Avenue Jail, and pays the county to house them there.
Beginning later this year, CoreCivic will handle all transportation of Mesa misdemeanor offenders and house them in Florence. The Mesa Police Department has not yet solidified a timeline.
Since the city announced it would consider privatizing its jail operations in March, hundreds of residents have emailed Mesa council members asking them to reject the contract, according to an Arizona Republic review of public records.
