Thomas W. Beasley (born 1943) is an American lawyer, political activist and businessman based in Tennessee.
Thomas W. Beasley was born on January 8, 1943, on a farm owned by his family from the late 1790s in Smith County, Tennessee.
[2][3] While in law school, he rented a garage apartment from future Tennessee governor and U.S. senator Lamar Alexander.
[1] In the early 1980s, Beasley and his former roommate, Nashville lawyer, businessman and Republican presidential fund-raiser for Reagan, Robert Crants[7][8]: 128 met an executive of the Magic Stove Company who "said he thought it would be a heck of a venture for a young man: To solve the prison problem and make a lot of money at the same time" (CCA Source 2003).
On January 28, 1983, Crants, Beasley, who was then Tennessee Republican chairman[8]: 72 and T. Don Hutto founded Corrections Corporation of America, a private prison management company.
[7][8]: 128 [4][9]: 81–82 CCA received initial investments from Jack C. Massey, the founder of Hospital Corporation of America, Vanderbilt University, the Tennessee Valley Authority.
By 2016, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) along with Geo Group were running "more than 170 prisons and detention centres".