Terrell Don Hutto (June 8, 1935 – October 22, 2021), was an American businessman and one of the three co-founders of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), whose establishment marked the beginning of the private prison industry during the era of former President Ronald Reagan.
[2] In 1983, Hutto, Robert Crants and Tom Beasley formed CCA and received investments from Jack C. Massey, the founder of Hospital Corporation of America, Vanderbilt University, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
On January 29, 1968, Murton invited the media to witness the unearthing of three decayed skeletal remains in a remote part of the 16,000-acre grounds of the Cummins prison farm.
[12] Murton's co-authored 1969 book, Accomplices to the Crime: The Arkansas Prison Scandal was the basis for the fictionalized 1980 film Brubaker starring Robert Redford.
[citation needed] Against this backdrop, Hutto was hired by Governor Dale Bumpers in 1971 as the head of the Arkansas Department of Correction,[1] with a mandate of "humanizing" the "convict farms".
[1][2] [3] Corrections Corporation of America, (now renamed as CoreCivic), "the world’s first and largest for-profit prison operator",[23] was established by Hutto, Beasley, and Crants in Nashville, Tennessee on January 28, 1983.
[24][25] At the time Beasley served as the chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, and Crants was the chief financial officer of a real estate company in Nashville.
[26] As a result of the initial meeting, CCA were awarded an RFB with INS, which was the "first contract ever to design, build, finance and operate a secure correctional facility."
[23][26] Hutto, described how at the time, INS had "unrealistic expectations" putting pressure on CCA to have the facilities ready by early January, ninety days from the signing of the contract.
In a desperate attempt to find a solution, Hutto and Beasley flew to Houston, Texas and after several days managed to negotiate a deal with the owner of Olympic Motel—a "pair of non-descript two-story buildings" on "I-45 North between Tidwell and Parker"[23]—to hire their family and friends to staff the re-purposed motel for four months.