Corrections Corporation of America Message Board

A friend of mine who lives in Sarasota County
(and who is politically active) told me there was
never any doubt about the committee's final decision.
The High Sheriff is a popular, powerful guy who
really didn't want to have his department reduced to
just serving paper. The Good-Ole-Boy network, being
alive and well, kicked in and the committee gave the
boot to privatization. The reasons for their decision,
as stated, did not deal with the benefits but merely
opted not to make any changes. Hey Bubba, y'all can
keep them jobs, hear?

If you truely beleive the housing fellons was not
a business before privatization, you are truely
mistaken. This has been a business for a long time now. We
just made it efficient. If you don't beleive me ask
any of the thousands of people who draw that state
pay check or any of those sherrifs who keep state
inmates.

fairly positive on REITs. He seemed pretty
excited about the possibility of 5 to 7 % returns. He
stated that he would go with the leaders in the specific
catagories he discussed ie. malls, etc. Although he
naturally didn't mention PZN, I am positive about my
investment, because our segment of the REIT market is growing
much faster than those he mentioned, our yeild is
about twice what he felt was a "good" yeild and we have
over 50% of our segment of the private prison market.
I may be a buyer Monday. I believe that REITS will
make a comeback and analysts will take another look at
PZN. I don't expect anything to happen too quickly
though. Hopefully, the worst is over for us PZN
stockholders.

Incaceration may very well be inherently
governmental. Frankly, if the government offered investments
into the prison system that grew at 20% a year and
paid a 13% dividend I would by it from the from the
government.
I would, however, be hesitant to give much
credibility to the NYT, which is just one more arm of the
liberally slanted media.
I appreciate the best wishes on
my investments. As with every company there are
inherent risks associated with investment,i.e.lawsuits
from smokers, oil spills, coffee spills,drug
complications,contaminated meat. I think you catch my drift. When I make an
investment I look at a number of things, as I am sure that
you do. I have been wrong before and have taken my
lumps. All too often putting my money where my mouth
is.With this stock, I believe that the upside potential
far outweighs the down. I think the stock is beat up
because it is a REIT and REITS have been out of favor,
thats not brain surgery, you can compare this stock
with every other REIT. Their charts all look similar.
What I do believe I see very clearly is that almost
all of these stocks have bottomed and that sooner
rather than later, money will rotate into them.
By
the way, you never indicated whether you had a
position in this stock. Good Luck!

Analysts' reports on PZN are available at
www.multexinvestor.com for a reasonable fee. These reports provide very
useful information and also answer many of the questions
posed by many participants on this message board about
PZN.

I am not disputing your assertions, but simply
want to point out a few things. First of all, most of
the objective cost studies have concluded that there
is no appreciable cost difference, or its an �apples
to oranges� comparison. For instance, in Florida
there is a cap on inmate healthcare costs (i.e., $7,500
per inmate) for private vendors, which tends to
disproportionately reflect healthcare costs, the biggest and fastest
growing component of correctional operating costs, in the
public sector. Other cost considerations are
depreciation write-offs for private firms and �hidden costs,�
such as a decrease in local living standards when
shareholder profits are generated from lower CO salaries and
risky stock retirement plans, as well as the free
assistance provided to private firms to capture escapees,
quell riots, etc. Secondly, you wrote �Government
regulated, privatized prisons are one way to solve this
problem at a lower expense to the taxpaying public.�
However, as the recent NYTs article pointed out, CCA has a
disproportionately high amount of speculative (i.e., more risky like
Youngstown) projects, and these tend not to be government
regulated. Many of the jurisdictions where these spec
prisons are located don�t know who is in them and do not
regulate them. Lastly, you did not discuss the fact that
several officials also argued that the incarceration
function is inherently governmental. Good luck with your
investing.

Sorry about the personal attack Hampton 1, it was
a bit overboard. Who do you think profits from the
incarceration business today? Let me give you a hint,
lawyers,judges, and the untold thousands of bureaucrats who make
our judicial system work, whether you or I like it.
Since this is our legal system,the government owes it
to the taxpayers(of which I am one who happens to
have paid more in taxes this year than 95% of the
population does in a lifetime) to reduce the cost of the
services they render to the public. One of which happens
to be the incarceration of criminals. Is it fair for
the inmates to be in overcrowded prisons? Government
regulated, privatized prisons are one way to solve this
problem at a lower expense to the taxpaying public.

Concerning my investment. I am very comfortable buying a
stock that is undervalued and while waiting for capital
appreciation, receiving a 13% dividend. Which is where my
average cost in this stock lies.
You mentioned that
you were into making money but did not mention what
your investments were. If you are not invested in this
stock, why are you on this message board?

The following is cited with the General's editing
IN BOLD for emphasis:

Quoting Robert N.
Corley, Committee Chairman:

<<"We said in
our conclusion that privatization can be justified
ONLY IF there are expected quality improvements," he
said. "You would not privatize for a slight cost
savings, EVEN A SIGNIFICANT COST SAVINGS."

"The
committee ALL STOOD TOGETHER ON THAT," said Walter Witrock,
another member. "The cost isn't the only thing we would
consider.">>

On its face, the article appears to be a reasonable
position for the Sarasota County Committee to have taken.
What the article doesn't say but appears to be implied
is that even if privatization could deliver
COMPARABLE QUALITY OF SERVICE to that provided by the
sheriff's department but at SIGNIFICANT COST SAVINGS, the
committee would reject it.

If that implication is
true, I would say a question of fiscal responsibility
is raised regarding these elected
officials.

There are undoubtedly political issues that may weigh
heavily on this body so it would mot be fair to judge
their actions solely by what r7ualj's posting tells
us.

It should be remembered that the electorate gets the
representation it deserves. If Sarasota County's taxpayers are
content with that kind of thinking, who are we to judge
otherwise.

If Sarasota County's taxpayer's are not happy about
that kind of thinking, they can express themselves at
the ballot box.
If they can't wait till election
day rolls around, that's what hot pots, bitumuals,
and feathers are for.

Hey ,
You may not like my opinions pal. If so
thats your problem. As far as manure for brains think
about it your the one that bought into this company not
me. I preferr to make money not put money into
companies that arnt going anywhere. I AM AN AMERICAN THAT
THINKS INCARSATION OF PEOPLE SHOULD ONLY BE USED AS A
LAST RESORT AND NEVER NEVER EVER BECOME AN INDUSTRY
FROM WHICH TO PROFIT. IF YOU LIKE PROFITTING FROM
INCARSATION MAYBE ITS YOU THAT NEEDS TO GO TO CHINA.

Why do you think the IRS won't review PZN's REIT
status? PZN must qualify for REIT status when it files
its taxes. As far as the risk vs return factor, CCA
did take a big drop after the merger, but the stock
price fell even further after the Youngstown incident.
If you don't think that escapes can drive a company
out of business, take a look a Capital Correctional
Resources, Inc., which was almost driven completely out of
business after the Brazoria County video was aired on
national TV. CCA probably lost the recent FBOP bid to
Cornell because of Youngstown. Poor management and the
subsequent lost of contracts affects Wall Street's
confidence in the company's ability to maintain certain
earnings projections. Given the perceived greater
propensity for escapes, law suits, etc. in the private
sector, investors demand a higher return than is
currently offered for the potential volatility. The
management contracts are the key to PZN's earnings. In
addition, PZN is still viewed as a captive REIT.