The company that built a Montana private prison, which eventually led to a national embarrassment with the involvement of American Police Force, is also the company that constructed a number of prisons around New Mexico.

A story by Talking Points Memo’s Muckraker shows that Corplan Corrections says the company “[took] for a ride” the small town of Hardin, Montana in the construction of a 92,000 facility that never housed a single prisoner.

In Hardin, the prison didn’t work out so well for the small town. Again, from Talking Points Memo:

For Parkey and his crew, the deal soon paid off. The prison’s designer and builder, Hale-Mills Construction of Houston, was guaranteed a maximum price of $19.88 million, according to the official bond statement obtained by TPMmuckraker. The exact amount the firm ultimately received isn’t known.

And Hardin’s $27 million municipal bond sale, conducted in 2006, netted the underwriters — a pair of companies called Herbert J. Sims, of Connecticut, and Municipal Capital Markets Group (MCM), of Dallas — a total of $1.62 million. Other players recruited by Parkey — lawyers, surveyors, and the North Carolina-based consultant who conducted the feasibility study — reaped $169,750. It’s not known how big a cut Parkey took, and he didn’t respond to calls for comment.

Hardin itself didn’t make out nearly so well. Not a single inmate has ever slept in the jail, and the town hasn’t seen a cent of revenue from the project.

TPMmuckraker reports that the bonds have gone into default.

The Santa Fe Reporter reported earlier this year on campaign donations from the company to Bill Richardson:

James Parkey, president of Corplan Corrections, gave $10,000 to Richardson’s presidential run. Corplan helped design and build 13 jails around New Mexico.

Of the $10,000 donated to Richardson, $7,700 was refunded; the maximum an individual could donate to federal campaigns in the 2008 cycle was $2,300 for the each of the primary and general elections.

According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, Richardson was the only Democrat Parkey donated to.

On its Web site, Corplan Corrections brags about the Otero County Detention Center in Chapparal, New Mexico. The 500-bed prison in southern New Mexico was completed in 2003.

In addition to New Mexico, Corplan Corrections’ Web site says that the it is “the only team to design and construct 33 correctional facilities in Texas, Louisiana, Colorado, New Mexico and Idaho.”

In Texas the construction of a prison built by Corplan Corrections was investigated in 2001 and 2002. Four people were convicted in the corruption probe, two county commissioners, the county auditor and a consultant for Corpland Corrections.

Parkey himself wasn’t charged with any crime, but former Willacy County District Attorney Juan Guerra told KULR-TV, “What they do is promise all sorts of things. There are millions of dollars in bonds, revenue bonds and then they go into default. They make their money upfront and within a month they are out of there. They’re not there to make sure this thing runs,” said Guerra.