Civil rights groups are outraged that the Corrections Corporation of America wants to build a new and bigger prison in Otay Mesa. The private company already runs a smaller immigration detention center in Otay that's come under fire for how it treats detainees. KPBS reporter Amy Isackson has the story.
The Corrections Corporation of America wants to build a nearly 3,000-bed prison on about 40 acres in Otay Mesa.
The new prison would hold about four times the number of people that the company's immigration detention center now holds.
That detention center is the subject of three lawsuits. One alleges massive overcrowding, the other two grossly inadequate medical care.
Kevin Keenan is Executive Director of the ACLU in San Diego that's sued CCA .
He says the company should not get a bigger facility.
Keenan : CCA is doing an awful job running the facility it has now. It is a for-profit facility. If it were operation in any other industry, it would have gone out of business.
The federal government has criticized CCA’s facility for sub-par conditions.
CCA's lease on its immigration detention center expires in 2015.
Amy Isackson, KPBS News.
