August 16, 2000

The big (empty) house

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A new prison set to open in Stewart County, Ga. next month will have everything a correctional facility could need … except prisoners. The ASSOCIATED PRESS reports in the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION that Corrections Corporation of America — the subject of a recent exposé in Mother Jones — is near completion of a $45 million medium-security prison that is apparently the result of a miscommunication.

“This was just a speculative project; we just don’t need the beds right now,” said Georgia’s corrections commissioner. The fact that there was never a written agreement for the prison’s construction did not deter CCA from building it. Construction is now at a standstill, with two-thirds of the facility completed.

This is bad news for Stewart County, which badly needs the 500 jobs the prison would create. As an alternative, CCA may apply to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to house 1,500 illegal immigrants in the new prison. If that doesn’t work, look on the bright side: At least the building will keep that new-prison smell.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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