BOISE, Idaho (AP)-Attorneys for the nation's largest private prison company have asked a federal judge in Idaho to throw out a lawsuit from inmates who say the company uses gangs to run a Boise-area prison. In a motion filed in Boise's U.S. District Court on Monday, attorneys for Corrections Corporation of America say that a lawsuit brought by eight inmates at the Idaho Correctional Center fails to meet legal standards and so should be tossed out of court. The inmates sued in November, contending that the company is working with a few powerful prison gangs to control the facility south of Boise.

The inmates say that CCA is able to save money on staffing by essentially allowing the gangs to run the prison, and that as a result some inmates are forced to join gangs or risk being attacked. CCA officials have said the company's top priority is the safety and security of its prisons, employees and inmates and that the company is always held to the highest standards of accountability and transparency by its   contracts with government partners like the Idaho Department of Correction.

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