The largest private prison company in America is changing its name—but can’t escape a troubled record

The largest private prison company in America is changing its name in an attempt to overhaul a business that has been dogged by accusations of inmate abuse and violence.

Corrections Corporation of America, which runs more than 70 prisons and houses 70,000 inmates around the country, is rebranding as “CoreCivic,” the company announced on Friday.

The name change comes as the private prison industry is facing some of the rockiest times in its three-decade history. After an inspector general report found substandard living conditions, inadequate medical care, and higher rates of violence at 14 prisons run by CCA and other private companies, the Department of Justice announced in August that it would be phasing out its private prisons. The company’s stock fell 35% in one day. Now, the Department of Homeland Security is considering following suit and phasing out privately run immigration detention centers, with a decision expected to be announced by the end of next month.

Meanwhile, watchdog groups, elected officials, and the media are devoting more attention to what goes on behind the doors of private prisons. In a blockbuster Mother Jones investigation earlier this year, reporter Shane Bauer went undercover as a private prison guard in a CCA facility in Louisiana and uncovered how cost-cutting was putting guards and prisoners at risk. (That prison is no longer operated by the company.)

http://fusion.net/story/364000/cca-corecivic-private-prison-rebranding/