By Bill Thompson
The Ocala Times
OCALA, Fla. — The Marion County Jail might become a cash cow now that the County Commission has agreed to explore selling it.
Commissioner Stan McClain raised the issue last week at the board’s annual strategic planning workshop, suggesting that making the facility financially “liquid” would provide revenue for other needs, primarily public safety.
The decision, he said, would likely involve a “big financial analysis discussion.”
And McClain emphasized selling the jail property and buildings would not mean privatizing jail operations.
The board briefly flirted with that idea last year during its budget standoff with Sheriff Chris Blair, but it didn’t go anywhere.
A sale to a private prison company, McClain said, would provide the county with fresh revenue and put the property on the tax rolls. The county could arrange a long-range lease with an option to buy back the site, he suggested.
The Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
McClain said he learned that private prison companies were in the business of buying county jails and state prisons when he toured the jail last September with a potential vendor.
McClain showed the facility to executives from Corrections Corporation of America as part of a county task force that was combing Blair’s budget to find additional savings after the sheriff refused to make cuts as commissioners had requested.
“I was shocked. I didn’t even know that they did that,” McClain recalled of his conversation with the CCA representatives.
“I was really surprised when they said, ‘Hey, would you all be interested in selling your real estate?’ ”
Full story: County considers putting jail up for sale