My point was that for the person saying it is interesting, they are literally stating why it belongs on HN (based on the official guidelines).

Whether or not it actually is interesting is another question, and a subjective one. Personally I see your points about this story specifically, but the flip side is that it creates debate on HN about the concept of private prisons, which at least has the potential to be of interest.

In this case its been a long, long story in Idaho. When CCA took over and built a prison near Boise the prison directors actually asked to be allowed to bid on running the prison since they felt that the state could do it cheaper than CCA. This was denied by the very Republican government. Slowly the attitude has been changing though, and recently the private prison had to admit to falsifying records after several inmates where very much harmed due to CCA's actions. The private prison is now nicknamed "Gladiator school."

I find this very interesting because its forcing the hand of a group of the staunchest supporters of privatization. When the very, very far edge moves toward the center its usually cause for curiosity. =)