Private Prisons Operator Hires Greenberg Traurig to Lobby on Lease Agreements

The largest private operator and owner of U.S. prisons has locked up the lobbying services of Greenberg Traurig.

Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America brought in Greenberg to advocate for the renewal of lease agreements that allow the U.S. government to use the company's facilities, according to lobbying registration paperwork the law firm's Washington office filed with Congress on Wednesday. Austin, Texas-based Greenberg shareholder Demetrius McDaniel, who leads the firm's governmental affairs practice in the state, is handling the account.

Neither McDaniel nor CCA spokesman Mike Machak was immediately available for comment.

CCA spent $970,000 on federal lobbying in 2012, according to congressional records. For its advocacy efforts, the company used its own staffers, as well as lobbyists at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, McBee Strategic Consulting and Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti.

The company operates 67 facilities, 47 of which it owns, according to its website. The facilities, which have more than 90,000 beds, are located in D.C. and 20 states. For the first nine months of 2012, CCA received $570.2 million from the U.S. government, the company's most recent quarterly financial report shows.