Mesa may become the first city in the state to privatize its jail system. The department asked the Mesa City Council last month for permission to solicit bids from private contractors.

Mesa police says contracting with prison operator CoreCivic, formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America, could save more than a million dollars a year. The move comes as the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has increased costs for housing misdemeanor inmates at its Fourth Avenue Jail.

But Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone has said that private prisons are a threat to county jails, because under the new plan, Mesa would send misdemeanor offenders to private facilities, but more serious offenders would still go to the county jail.

And, for more on this, we’re joined now by Sheriff Paul Penzone.