The executives at the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the
infamous prison privatizer, are trying to take advantage of a loophole
in the federal tax code to avoid paying their fair share of federal
taxes, thereby maximizing their profits and allowing them to even
more aggressively privatize our prisons.

In January 1999, CCA converted its corporate structure into a real
estate investment trust, or REIT, called Prison Realty Trust. A
REIT is a type of company that gets a huge federal tax break for
owning real estate, like office buildings, hotels and hospitals.
The tax break is not supposed to go to companies that own businesses
including prisons. However, CCA, led by Doc Crants, the former
Chief Execcutive Officer of CCA and now head of Prison Realty,
believe that they have found a way to get the tax break while still
operating private prison business.

However, there is one thing that CCA's high priced lawyer's can't
change. Prison Realty's business isn't real estate -- it's prisons.
And a private prison should not be viewed as an office building just
to take an advantage of a tax break.

AFSCME has sent letters to the IRS and the Treasury Department out-
lining our belief that Prison Realty should not qualify as a REIT and
that CCA is merely exploiting a tax break that was created to
stabilize real estate ownership.

WHAT YOU CAN DO!

Let your members of Congress know that CCA, by restructuring themselves
into Prison Realty, is ripping off the American taxpayer. Tell them
that Prison Realty is a private business running private prisons for
profit -- that should be subject to federal taxes. Ask them to
investigate this scam NOW. Your Representative and Senators are:

Rep. Don Sherwood

Sen. Arlen Specter
Sen. Rick Santorum

Please call them today at 1-877-722-7494.

AFSCME Corrections United
1625 L Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036
(202)429-1260