With construction on the new McDowell Federal Correctional Institution scheduled for completion next month, officials are stressing opportunities that are currently available for local businesses and entrepreneurs. News reported in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.

In addition to the ongoing hiring of employees, the federal prison also will be looking to buy goods and services from the community, according to Rachel Lester, the county’s economic development director.

“We’ve actually put a package together for citizens and business leaders,” Lester said. “There are so many items that could be provided locally — anything that it would take to operate a small city. It’s also an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to start up businesses and something we could help them with. If they are interested, we have packets they can pick up at the EDA (office in Welch) that provides them details.”

Lester said several workshops and webinars also are being held to inform and assist the public with government contracting.

Construction on the $232 million federal prison is scheduled for completion next month. Lester said the Federal Bureau of Prisons is still listing its opening date as spring.

Lester said hiring for internal positions is well underway and response has been good so far from McDowell County citizens.

“Everything is on schedule,” Lester said. “They are still saying spring. I know they are holding interviews. We are excited to get it going.”

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction, West Virginia

The 173,000 square feet of new jail space at Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning will be Riverside County’s most secure and advanced when completed next month. As reported by the Press-Enterprise.

Construction began two years ago on the $80 million, 582-bed expansion. There’s just one problem. The county hasn’t yet found the nearly $13 million a year needed to operate the new jail expansion.

If there is no new funding, the facility still could open but it would not provide the net increase in jail beds county officials had sought.

Riverside County is facing what some officials call its most challenging budget situation in history.

Supervisors are grappling with ways to bridge a $71 million budget gap and have said that over the next two years they might need to lay off as many as 1,600 workers.

The county’s discretionary revenues, which supervisors have control over, dropped to $609 million this year, while ongoing expenses top $680 million.

County CEO Bill Luna last week gave supervisors three options that would cut the county’s public safety departments, which include the Sheriff’s Department and district attorney’s office, anywhere from 3 to 10 percent in an effort to balance the county budget within two years.

The options included backfilling some of the sheriff’s losses in Prop. 172 sales tax revenue — a special fund for public safety — but not the nearly $13 million needed to run the Smith jail expansion.

Including the jail money would throw off the plan to balance the county’s budget within two years, Luna told supervisors.

Supervisors have long said public safety is their top priority, but some have said every department, including the sheriff’s, must make sacrifices and live within its means.

Sheriff Stan Sniff said he and his staff worked hard this year to find budget savings.

In a letter last week to supervisors, Sniff said the department is projected to close a $22.3 million budget gap by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. The deficit was erased through a hiring freeze, early retirements, leaving promotional vacancies unfilled and securing a large federal grant, officials said.

But Sniff said his balanced budget does not include funding for the jail expansion. Additional cuts would be hard to absorb and would come from either jail operations or patrols in unincorporated areas, he said. “We are pretty threadbare,” Sniff said in an interview.

On a recent tour, workers were busy finishing the jail’s interior. Cell walls are 2 inches thick and made of 12-gauge metal, which maximizes space and is more secure.

The expansion’s 582 beds are in three housing units that are two stories each, and surround centralized medical and mental health services.

Each cell holds two beds — not dormitory style like in older jails — and each is easy to see into. Inmates won’t have to travel far for needed services, either — something sheriff’s officials say adds security.

Recreation areas are close by, as are areas for visitations, which will be done through a video link. “This is state of the art,” said Deputy Chief Steve Thetford, who oversees corrections. “It will be the most secure facility in our system.”

Sniff said the jail expansion is critical, given space shortages and the prospect of California releasing state prisoners into county custody, a move included in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most recent budget proposal.

“We are in crisis,” the sheriff said. “We already are in a position with no space.” The expansion will make the Smith correctional facility in Banning the county’s largest, with more than 1,500 beds.

Thetford said the Sheriff’s Department must hire 142 additional people to operate the jail. Sniff said it takes time to hire and train people. He said he needs a decision on how to move forward. “I need a signal pretty soon,” he said.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Marion Ashley said finding the funding for the jail is a priority for him. “I believe that public safety is not only our constitutional duty but our No. 1 goal,” he said at last week’s board meeting.

“We need to open Larry Smith and get that operating as soon as possible. Our jails are going to be under a lot of pressure, and we really need to expand our jail.”

But Supervisor Bob Buster said the jail should be looked at closely, noting that supervisors did promise taxpayers that it was one of their top priorities.

“The sheriff in his other operations needs to participate in reductions and skillful management so that he can free up money to help staff this jail,” Buster said. “He himself came in and agreed it was a top priority.”

Where the money will come from, though, remains in doubt. Supervisors are expected to again take up the county’s fiscal troubles Feb. 9.

Sheriff’s officials said even without the extra money to operate the Smith expansion, it won’t sit idle.

The department will shift inmates and staff from existing jails into the expansion. Plus, the county must eventually vacate 289 beds in an old jail in downtown Riverside because of seismic safety issues.

janchavarie CA Riverside County, Jail and Prison Construction

The Department of Corrections is working on several options that will open the Colorado State Penitentiary II. Executive Director Ari Zavaras said the facility should be ready to open by the next fiscal year. Reported by the Canon City Daily Record.

“We’re looking at a plan where we can make some moves within the department,” he said. “We are looking at some possibilities at getting it open.”

The facility is on track to be completed by the end of June, with contractors mainly completing finish work, according to program manager Mark Crisman.

DOC has seen a growth of 750 high-security inmates during the last 10 years but has not added any high-security beds in that time, Zavaras said.

Currently, 1,300 high-security inmates are being managed in lower-security facilities because of lack of space in the current high-security facilities.

This situation has created security concerns for the department, which has had facilities on lockdown 176 times during the last year. “That’s a lot,” Zavaras said.

Lockdown at facilities is initiated after a major incident, such as assaults on inmates or officers. In higher security prisons, such as CSP II will be, there are more controls. CSP II will be a full lockdown facility, with inmates in their cells 23 hours a day.

“Just the threat of a higher security bed is a deterrent,” Zavaras said. “They don’t want to go there.”

When CSP II is fully operational, it will have 948 high-security beds. These are single-occupancy cells set in five towers. Each tower has two cell houses with eight pods per cell house.

The layout of CSP II is similar to that of CSP with some updates to fit with modern standards. For example, cell windows in CSP provide three square feet of natural light; that has been increased to four square feet in CSP II.

Unique to CSP II is a in-cell “kiosk” system, said Mike Fowler, physical plant manager for the prison. Each cell has a computer monitor, keyboard, mouse and headphones that allow the inmate to have their video visitations, as well as provide staff communication abilities, television and allow them to control their offender bank account. The system reduces the amount that inmates will need to be transported out of their cells.

The prison also will contain a full medical clinic that will allow officials to deal with basic medical care on-site without depending on St. Thomas More Hospital, Fowler said.

By the time the facility is complete, offenders from other prisons will have completed $18 million worth of work on the building, including painting, concrete, building the cells and general clean up.

Zavaras said Gov. Bill Ritter is working closely with the department to determine budgetary needs to be able to open the facility. He said Ritter has a good understanding of the work of the department and the tools necessary to get it done.

He added the highest priority in the department is the safety of staff and inmates. “We take that responsibility very seriously,” he said.

Zavaras is fairly confident that CSP II will open, at least partially, in the next fiscal year. “We’re looking at every conceivable option,” he said.

janchavarie Colorado, Jail and Prison Construction

A proposed private prison with 5,000 beds will be an economic boon by creating thousands of jobs during construction and operations and generating tax revenues, according to a Scottsdale-based economist. News reported in The Daily Courier.

Elliott D. Pollack & Co. projected construction for the proposed prison would create 3,945 direct, indirect and “induced” jobs with $172.2 million in wages and a total economic effect of $469.9 million during the construction period. Construction alone would cost $300 million, according to the report.

Once the prison opens, it will create 885 direct jobs, and 425 direct and induced ones with $49.3 million in wages, Pollack stated in the report. The annual economic output would be $109.3 million.

Indirect jobs refers to employment that businesses create when they provide goods and services for operating the prison, and include manufacturers and wholesalers, Pollack explained in a 12-page economic analysis released Monday. The spending of wages on goods and services from direct and indirect jobs in turn creates induced jobs.

The private prison also would generate $25.2 million a year for state, county and local governments during construction, and exceed $7.9 million a year in revenues from operations, Pollack’s report states.

Pollack produced the report for the Prescott Valley Economic Development Foundation, which has held talks with Corrections Corporation of America to build a private prison off Fain Road near the Grapevine Industrial Park. He based construction estimates, job and inmate figures, taxable corporate income and an estimated utility budget on information that CCA supplied.

Pollack staffers are scheduled to speak about the report during a meeting of the Town Council Thursday evening.

“I think it is very impressive,” foundation Executive Director Gary Marks said.

Marks issued a press release Dec. 17 in which he stated the prison would create 400 full-time jobs. He and other business and civic leaders met that day with a CCA official.

CCA would create more full-time jobs because Marks based that figure on a prison with 1,000 to 1,200 beds – not 5,000 – CCA spokeswoman Louise Grant said.

“If CCA were to submit a proposal to build a 5,000-bed prison, that would mean more than 800 stable careers for locally hired people from Yavapai County,” Grant said.

Grant noted the state government has not issued the request for proposals (RFP) from prison companies to house a maximum of 5,000 inmates. The state could award 20-year contracts to CCA or other companies to house the inmates at existing prisons, new prisons or both.

She also said CCA, which operates four prisons in Eloy and two in Florence, likely would hire an outside general contractor because a prison requires specialized construction skills. She added CCA cannot guarantee that it will hire local subcontractors or recruit employees strictly from the tri-city area, which has an official unemployment rate of 9.3 percent.

“We always make every commitment to hire local subcontractors,” Grant said. “Our culture and commitment is to hire as many (people) locally as possible.”

Grant spoke hypothetically because her company awaits a decision from the state. Pollack qualified its report as well.

“The analysis outlined in this study is based on currently available information and estimates and assumptions about long-term future trends,” the report states. “Such estimates and assumptions are subject to uncertainty and variation. Accordingly, we do not represent that the results will be achieved.”

The analysis also does not consider costs associated with providing services to the prison, the report stated.

janchavarie Arizona, Jail and Prison Construction, Private Prisons

Northville Township Manager Chip Snider thinks it’s time for some changes at the closed Robert Scott Correctional Facility. “I think we can take the concertina wire down, so it doesn’t look like we’re in Guantánamo Bay,” Snider said, noting that the state should try to make the 35-acre facility across 5 Mile from a Home Depot less ominous visually. Reported in the Detroit Free Press.

Snider and other township officials have been eagerly awaiting word on the future of the former women’s prison since it closed in May, but that wait may be ending.

The Michigan Department of Corrections is expected to declare the property surplus by Feb. 1, one of the key first steps before the state can begin marketing the prison. State officials say Scott’s location at a busy intersection a short distance from M-14 in the affluent Northville area makes it prime property for reuse. But they also acknowledge that closed prisons elsewhere in Michigan face challenges to redevelopment because they are typically in rural areas, and they were built specifically for holding prisoners.

The state Department of Management and Budget currently lists only four prisons as surplus — including the closed Western Wayne Correctional Facility a short distance east of Scott in Plymouth Township. But the state has closed at least 19 prison facilities since 2002.

The state Department of Management and Budget announced Thursday that its real estate division would post a request for proposals from potential developers for Western Wayne on its Web site within the next few weeks. The other surplus locations are in Kalamazoo, Manistique and Marquette.

Plymouth Township Supervisor Richard Reaume said he believes that once the economic climate improves, developers will consider the Western Wayne site attractive, despite its construction on an old landfill. He said the site, which closed as a prison in 2004, had drawn interest from several parties before the economy soured. Like Snider, he would like to see some physical changes at Western Wayne because “it still looks like a prison there.”

Some sites, however, lack the location advantages that the two closed Wayne County prisons enjoy.

In Jackson County, the Southern Michigan Correctional Facility closed in 2007, but the facility has limited redevelopment prospects in part because it is near two other operating prisons. The closed facility is used for administrative offices, according to James Shotwell Jr., chairman of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners.

And it has proven enticing as an authentic locale for moviemakers. In 2008 and 2009, the site was used in three film projects — “Street Boss,” “Betty Anne Waters” and “Stone,” all of which are awaiting release.

Although Standish Maximum Correctional Facility near Bay City did not become a destination for ex-Guantánamo Bay prisoners as proposed last year, Russ Marlan, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said corrections officials hope to eventually place other prisoners, possibly from out of state, at the site.

In the Upper Peninsula, the state opted to lease its Mangum Farm prison camp to Marquette County for $1 per year. That solved a problem for both the county, which had an overcrowded jail, and the state, which had an empty prison facility.

The facility, which is now known as the Marquette County Community Corrections Detention Center, houses some of Marquette County’s overflow prisoners.

Marquette County Sheriff Michael Lovelace called the lease a gift. Marlan said the arrangement fits the department’s goals.

“We try to be good partners in the community, and this is an opportunity to help them — and they help us by utilizing the property,” he said. Often, the easiest thing to do with prison facilities is to use them as such, Marlan said.

That’s the case with the Muskegon Correctional Facility, which had been slated to close this month as part of the state’s effort to cut costs. Instead, a deal was struck with Pennsylvania to house 1,000 of that state’s prisoners. The move also should save most of the 264 jobs that would have been lost.

Although cutting costs is a factor in Michigan’s prison closures, it is not the only issue. The need for prison space also has dropped for several reasons, including a drop in the crime rate, efforts to reduce recidivism and some prisoner releases because of budgetary issues.

Total inmate population has declined by about 6,000 during the last three years to about 45,100 now, Marlan said.

Robin Boyle, a professor of urban planning at Wayne State University, said using old prisons for inmates makes the most sense.

“What would I put into a prison?” Boyle said of the closed facilities. “I think the obvious use is more corrections.”

That is not what Northville Township officials want to see happen at Scott. Snider said the township “has been an institutional dumping ground over the last 50 years for the State of Michigan.”

Northville Township Trustee Christopher Roosen said township officials want Scott sold for development instead.

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction, Michigan

City and county officials in St. Lawrence County have launched an online petition drive to save Ogdensburg Correctional Facility. They hope to replicate the success of the online petition that convinced Governor Paterson to halt his initiative for new license plates. News reported by Newport Television.

The petition, at www.SaveOurPrison.com, is organized by Ogdensburg Mayor Bill Nelson and County Clerk Patty Ritchie with support from Sheriff Kevin Wells and other local leaders.

Governor Paterson’s proposed budget calls for closing Ogdensburg Correctional by April, 2011, eliminating its 287 jobs.

“If there’s one thing we showed with the earlier license plate petition, it’s that Albany can be forced to back down when the public stands united against a bad decision,” Ritchie said in a statement. “Once again, they have gone too far, threatening the livelihoods of families and pulling the run from beneath our entire county.”

Mayor Nelson also announced a task force to preserve the prison, chaired by Chuck Kelly, General Manager of St. Lawrence County Newspapers.

Ogdensburg Councilor Nicholas Vaugh says he has signed the online petition. “The fight to protect Ogdensburg correction jobs is a fight for the very future of our city and the North Country,” Vaugh said in a statement. “I urge all citizens across the North Country to join me, sign the petition, make your voice heard.”

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction, NY St. Lawrence County

Hamilton County Commissioners are expected to make a decision Wednesday that will guide the future of the former Sara Lee site in Camp Washington – and whether the county should give up on plans to build a new jail in the coming years. Story from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The county’s options:

• Keep the 16-acre site on Spring Grove Avenue on the chance it could still build a jail there someday. Voters have twice defeated tax increases to pay for the jail.
• Ready the land for sale. A developer is ready to go on plans for an office/warehouse building there.

At least two of the three commissioners are leaning toward the latter option.

Commissioners will vote today whether to apply for a $3 million Clean Ohio grant to help fund demolition and environmental cleanup of the former Kahn’s meat processing plant. Those actions would prime the site for redevelopment.

If they apply for the grant it is unlikely the site could ever be used for a jail. The grant requires the site be use for “an economic development purpose,” said Jeff Aluotto, an assistant county administrator who spearheaded the grant process.

While an office/warehouse development proposed for the site by Madeira-based developer Midd Cities would qualify, a jail “would be a stretch,” said Aluotto.

The deadline for the grant application is Friday.

Sara Lee Food and Beverage Co. closed its former Kahn’s meat-processing plant in 2006, and agreed to give the $7 million property to the county as-is for $10.

The county, with the blessing of the Camp Washington community, jumped at the offer and made plans to build a 1,800-bed jail there.

But voters dashed those plans by trouncing two sales tax increases that would have paid to build it.

The site now sits vacant and is becoming an eyesore and a liability.

Commissioners David Pepper and Greg Hartmann think it makes no sense to hang onto the property on the off-chance that voters might someday approve a tax. The cash-strapped county pays $300,000 to $400,000 to maintain the site, mostly for utility bills and security.

Although a jail is still needed Hartmann said it’s “not in the cards right now,” and the county can’t afford those annual costs. “I think we need move on from it,” he said.

Pepper agreed. “If I thought there was a chance in the next few years of there being an operating jail there I’d think differently,” he said. “But now it just doesn’t make sense to hang onto this piece of property. The sooner we can get this into private hands, the better.”

Portune was unable to be reached Tuesday. He said at a recent meeting he wanted to see more research before he would commit to relinquishing the property.

Sheriff Simon Leis, a jail proponent, opposes the grant, saying the county needs to keep this option open for a future jail site.

Camp Washington leaders supported the now defunct jail plan. But now they want the site developed as soon as possible. And that means selling.

“I think it’d be best for everyone if they just sold it and redeveloped it,” said Joe Gorman, community organizer for the Camp Washington community council. He doesn’t think a jail will ever happen there and Midd Cities’ plan dovetails well with the council’s vision for redeveloping the Spring Grove industrial corridor which has a 40 percent to 50 percent vacancy rate right now, he said.

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction, OH Hamilton County

Construction of a new prison at Point MacKenzie is slightly ahead of schedule — as is the economic boost it’s giving to the area. The new Mat-Su prison brings jobs to the Valley. News reported by KTUU.com.

Ground was broken for the $240 million facility on June 18, 2009. But the site has already been transformed, as a lot of work has been done over the past few months.

“You know, you don’t want to count your eggs before they hatch, but we’re on schedule and I think everyone is very pleased with the progress,” said project manager Roe Sturgulewski with Rise Alaska.

Four of the project’s five buildings are already up. Neeser says it expects all four will be enclosed by next month, with the roofs on and the exterior finished. Work will start next spring on the final building, which will house inmates.

“We’re cruising along,” said Neeser project superintendent Wayne Anderson. “We’re real close to being just a touch ahead of schedule.”

The medium-security prison sits on about 100 acres, of which the buildings take up about 10 acres. Each of the two main buildings are as long as three football fields — about the size of a cruise ship.

Approximately 450 people will work on this project during the three years it will take to complete it, and more than 95 percent of those workers live in the Mat-Su Borough.

“There’s a base of folks out here that have been driving to Anchorage for the last 30 years,” Anderson said. “They’ve always wanted the opportunity to work on a job out in the Valley, and of this scope, and not have to drive all the way to Anchorage. So that’s a very nice feature to have on this particular job.”

Anderson says Neeser strives to hire locally, because it just makes sense.

“It makes for good happy workers,” Anderson said. “We brought some of our key folks in, but beyond that everybody’s local and it’s really working well.”

Because of the local hires, building Goose Creek has already helped boost the region’s economy. But even after construction is over, it will take a staff of about 300 to run the correctional facility.

“The long-term economic impacts for the state, in terms of the jobs that it creates, is going to have a tremendous benefit,” Sturgulewski said. “I think this will provide a very nice anchor for this area of the Mat-Su Borough. And the people that are here are going to need houses, they’re going to need stores, they’re going to need services.”

The prison is being built to help alleviate overcrowding within the state.

Right now, approximately 850 Alaska prisoners are being housed in Hudson, Colo. Once Goose Creek opens in 2012, all of those prisoners will be moved to Point MacKenzie.

janchavarie Alaska, Jail and Prison Construction

Plans to build a 500-bed state prison facility on the northern edge of town are back before the council Tuesday. News reported by the VV Daily Press.

The town first expressed support for the reentry facility in May 2008, citing its goal to reduce prisoner recidivism and promises it’ll employ 325 to 350 people with average salaries of $85,000.

Now the state is asking Apple Valley to execute a “Will Serve” letter, agreeing to provide sewer service to the planned 22,000-square-foot prison adjacent to the Juvenile Detention Center on Dale Evans Parkway.

The Secure Community Reentry Facility will house inmates during the last six to 12 months of their sentences, with counseling and job training planned to help them reintegrate into society.
It grew out of 2007’s Assembly 900 prison reform initiative to reduce overcrowding in the state prison system and reduce the state’s 70-percent recidivism rate.

Candidates for the Apple Valley prison will be screened for selection, with the CDCR looking for those most likely to return to prison after their release.

janchavarie CA San Bernardino County, Jail and Prison Construction

Somerset County officials could find out soon whether a proposed facility to house federal prisoners will be built here or in North Carolina. Story reported by the Somerset Herald.

The announcement is expected sometime after the first of the year, said County Administrator Sam Boston. “They’ve indicated it would be in early January,” he said.

If Somerset County is selected as the site for the facility, Community Education Centers Inc. of West Caldwell, N.J., will be awarded a contract for a 1,500-bed minimum security prison in Princess Anne.

Another site in Winton, N.C., also is under consideration by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.Community Education Centers has been working to get zoning and other approvals prior to the selection.

Last month, the proposed facility got green lights from two Somerset County boards, which granted rezonings, a special exception and a setback variance on the 86-acre Miller farm on Market Lane just south of Princess Anne.

The county’s Board of Zoning Appeals approved a request for a special exception for the proposed facility — something that is required because it would a privately owned venture rather than a government prison. The board also granted a variance to setback requirements.

Also in November, the Somerset County Commissioners approved the rezoning of the land with three conditions attached. If the conditions are not met, the land will convert back from an Industrial-2 zone to a combination of general commercial and residential.

The facility proposed for Somerset County is designed as a minimum security prison. Inmates would likely be released near their homes or sent to re-entry programs, company officials said during public meetings in August.

The proposal received positive feedback from residents during public input meetings last summer.

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction

The City of Brunswick is joining the legal fight to stop a controversial expansion of the Glynn County jail. News reported by Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Brunswick is filing a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of a group that wants the state Supreme Court to block expansion of the county jail.

County officials say, the jail needs more space.

But city officials say, its downtown location — in the Historic District and across the street from the waterfront — is inappropriate for jail expansion and would thwart redevelopment.

Brunswick Mayor Bryan Thompson says, the city won’t be giving the county the city-owned streets where the county wants to expand the jail.

“The city of Brunswick is opposed to this and will not be conveying two streets that, in statements made by the County Commissioners and the County Manager in the past, the plan is not feasible without those streets,” Thompson says.

The streets are at the heart of the legal case.

The state Supreme Court has not decided yet whether to take the case

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction, Wyoming

There are new plans out for what to do with the landmark old state penitentiary in Jefferson City. Reported by KOMU.

There are limited tours now of the old state penitentiary in Jefferson City, but visitors must face abestos and lead paint along the way. That is one reason why state officials met to discuss a new redevelopment plan Wednesday morning.

The plan would designate 140 acres for private development and preservation of historic structures.

“The main goal is to get economic development in the center core of Jefferson City.  The prison site is six blocks from the capital–it’s in downtown Jefferson City,” said Cole County Presiding Commisioner Marc Ellinger.

Ellinger said the development means construction and future jobs. The federal court house is already under reconstruction, which is working as a catalyst for completion.

“We are at the beginning stages of this development and we plan to move foward to significant opportunities down the road for economic development and tourism,” said Office of Administration Commissioner Kelvin Simmons.

The combination of local, county and state money will help this redevelopment site continue to move forward.

There is no set timeline for completition of the entire project but the court house is expected to open in 2011.

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction, MO Cole County

Prison crowding that often has Nebraska teetering on the edge of an emergency situation as defined by state law hasn’t convinced many lawmakers that another prison is needed. Reported by the Associated Press in the Beatrice Daily.

The majority of lawmakers who responded to an annual legislative survey from The Associated Press said they didn’t think preparations to build another state prison were necessary, with some saying that alternatives to incarceration should be pursued.

“I don’t think we have to build a new prison and we couldn’t afford it in any event,” said Sen. Pete Pirsch of Omaha, chairman of a legislative task force addressing the issue. A new prison could cost hundreds of millions of dollars for construction and staffing, Pirsch said.

Instead, he said, the state needs to have adequate community-corrections programs for some nonviolent, low-risk offenders and ensure there is prison space for violent criminals.

Community-corrections programs that hinge on intensive, probationary supervision were put in place after Nebraska built a $73 million prison in Tecumseh in 2001 to relieve overcrowding at its other facilities.

But after a big push to implement the programs, critics say, the state hasn’t spent enough money to develop them or created sentencing guidelines so the programs can be used more.

Some experts say lawmakers may have guaranteed the prison population will continue to rise when, earlier this year, they increased penalties for more than a dozen crimes to help curb gun and gang violence, mainly in Omaha.

The prison population has been hovering near a threshold – 140 percent of prison capacity – that allows the governor to declare an emergency and release inmates to decrease overcrowding. Last week, it was at nearly 138 percent.

University of Nebraska at Omaha professor T. Hank Robinson has said the tough-on-crime bill passed by lawmakers could cost the state $7.5 million to $10 million by increasing the prison population and keeping inmates incarcerated for longer periods.

State Sen. Kent Rogert of Tekamah was one of the 22 lawmakers in The Associated Press survey who said the state should not begin preparing to build another prison but said more must be done to boost community programs.

Thirty-four of the Legislature’s 49 senators responded to the survey. Nine said they were unsure whether the state should prepare to build another prison; three said the state should start preparing.

“Nebraska has stiffened penalties on many crimes over the past decade … in contrast to many other states,” Rogert said. “I believe we need more ways to reduce our prison costs by recidivism programs and more community corrections. Juvenile-justice overhaul must happen and must happen soon. Our young people are left out in the cold too often.”

Sen. Ken Schilz of Ogallala, one of the three senators who said the state should begin preparing to build another prison, suggested the state stop short of a full-blown prison and instead look to a facility that can hold nonviolent offenders, such as the Work Ethic Camp in McCook.

The camp should be “a model to start more facilities placed in rural Nebraska to alleviate overcrowding” in prisons, Schilz said.

The camp isn’t a lockdown facility. About two-thirds of the offenders committed nonviolent felonies and were ordered to spend time at the camp as conditions of their probation.

They attend classes that apply to their offenses and provide labor to government and nonprofit groups.

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction, Nebraska, Overcrowding

A 160-bed male housing addition and new booking center with a separate juvenile processing area are to be completed at Cumberland County Prison in the coming weeks, according to county officials. Reported by The Sentinel.

Construction of all of the cells has been done and everything is under roof at the Middlesex Township facility. Some exterior lighting and landscaping work still needs to be done, but everything appears to be on schedule, said Pat Slattery, the county’s director of capital projects.

Inside, crews are equipping control rooms and getting security systems online. The fit-out of the 3,500-square-foot booking center is also being done. Located on the prison’s east side, it features a gated sally port to transport prisoners and a separate secure public entrance.

There will be both individual and group adult holding cells in addition to the two juvenile holding cells. There are four new housing units with 20 cells and 40 beds each.

“Hopefully by mid-January we will be fully operational,” Warden Earl Reitz said of this $11 million first phase, which will increase inmate capacity by 40 percent.

The county broke ground on the project last August. Construction was in high gear by September 2008, Slattery said, noting that aside from the new construction, a great deal of work was also needed on the prison’s infrastructure.

This included a new emergency generator, demolition of the boiler room and installation of new equipment, installation of new electrical service and replacement of the piping and ductwork for new plumbing and HVAC.

Capacity

While a growing county population and an increase in crime largely drove officials to expand the prison, the age of the facility — which opened in May 1985 — also contributed to the decision. When phase one is completed, two additional phases will be needed to renovate the original section.

Phases two and three will include replacing windows, doors and locks, as well as kitchen and medical suite additions and other renovations to accommodate the increased prison population. In addition, a female housing/work release unit and visitation areas will be expanded.

The second phase is scheduled to start in late summer or early fall next year, Slattery said. The county has not yet bid the project.

It will coincide with the construction of a new county public safety building across the street on Claremont Road, behind the former agricultural extension building and Claremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Currently, the public safety department, which includes the 911 call center, is housed in the basement of the prison.

The county broke ground on that project — a 21,000-square-foot standalone building — earlier this month. It is slated to open in May 2011, moving public safety out of the prison.

During phase two of the prison project, male inmates will be moved into the new housing units as remodeling is done in the old sections, Slattery explained.

“We need those beds to do phase two,” he said, noting that the true benefit of the new cells won’t be felt until all of the renovations are completed in the latter phases.

When the project broke ground, it was projected that the entire expansion and renovation would take about five years to complete. Each phase was estimated to take about 450 days.

The prison has a total of 398 beds now. The average daily inmate population for the year is 377, Reitz said. That includes any federal inmates the county might house and female inmates from Perry County — about 45 to 50 at any given time, Reitz noted.

The facility has been running at or near capacity for quite some time, officials noted. Planning discussions to expand began in 2004 and 2005, the warden said.

Inmate costs

As the new housing units come online and prison officials can increase capacity, Reitz said, there will be more opportunities to house inmates from neighboring counties that are experiencing overcrowding, as well as federal inmates.

“That helps offset cost,” he said. Beds are rented at $55 per day for federal inmates.

The cost to hold a single prisoner is about $53 per day, the warden explained, between staff, medical expenses and other operational costs.

With the additional units, the prison will have to increase staff, which now stands at about 120, according to Reitz.

“The staffing investment is substantial,” he said, expecting to stagger new cell openings. “Every 24-hour post requires at least five staff.”

As county population continues to grow in the coming years, the crime rate will inevitably grow with it. Hoping to control the prison population moving forward and get long-term use out of the expansion project, Reitz said, officials will continue to work to enhance intermediate punishment and earned time programs.

Intermediate programs include options such as work release with electronic monitoring. Earned time allows inmates to reduce their sentence by participating in treatment or rehabilitation programs.

“We would have cots in all of the hallways without these programs,” Reitz said.

From 2000 to 2008, criminal dockets filed in the Court of Common Pleas increased 22 percent. DUI cases have tripled in that span, clogging up the courts and the county prison.

At the magisterial district judge level, DUI case filings have increased 45 percent in three years.

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction, PA Cumberland County

County efforts to entice the federal government to build a “green prison” near a Raft River geo-thermal plant were suspended Monday. Story in the Times-News.

Cassia County Commissioner Clay Handy said commissioners voted to cancel the county’s contract with consulting firm New West Strategies after the prison proposal failed to show up on any federal budget.

“You know we rolled the dice,” Handy said Tuesday. “And if you don’t play you never win.”

Cassia and Minidoka county officials co-signed the New West contract, and the counties were splitting the $5,000 monthly consulting bill. The contract required a 30-day notice of cancellation.

Minidoka County Clerk Duane Smith said Minidoka County commissioners voted to cancel the contract on Monday as well.

New West Strategies was founded by former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig and Michael O. Ware, and was hired by the counties in October to lobby federal officials to bring the $300 million medium-security prison to the area. The prison would have partnered with the Raft River U.S. Geothermal Inc. plant. U.S. Geothermal officials could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

“It didn’t show up in the president’s or the House Appropriations budgets,” Handy said. “We just needed a little more assurance that it was a higher priority, for us to continue on with the contract.”

Handy said county officials spoke with the state’s congressional delegation about putting the prison in the county. Having state officials up to speed on the issue will be a plus if the opportunity is presented again, he said.

County officials will keep close tabs on any opportunities that may arise in the future, Handy said.

“It’s one of those things you have to jump on quick,” Handy said.

Handy said he doesn’t feel the right people were in place this time to swing a decision in the direction of the southern Idaho site.

“It most likely would be a political decision,” Handy said.

Handy said if federal money were in place to build a “green prison” right now, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., would probably be able to influence decision-makers to locate it in his state.

Some questioned whether Craig and his firm had enough influence with Congress to get the job done.

Steve Carpinelli, media manager for The Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., said although Craig and his senior Senate staffers could not lobby any member of Congress or congressional staff members until January 2011, employees of Craig’s firm were free to lobby.

Handy said the federal government has funded four other prisons and picked sites but construction has not begun on any of them yet.

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The first walls are up in the Jay County jail expansion, a project that’s been in the making for eight years. Story in Newslink Indiana.

The Portland jail has been experiencing over crowding for some time now and has been operating much of the time at maximum capacity. However, once the new expansion project is completed the Portland jail should no longer have a problem with housing prisoners.

The old jail had the capacity to hold about 30 to 40 prisoners and the new facility will allow up to 120 cell blocks. There will also be cameras installed in each cell to provide constant supervision.

Along with cameras, according to site manager Jeff Bladder, this jail will feature a central control room that offers a 360-degree view of all the cells from one place.

“The person in the central control can look both up and down to observe at all times the prisoners. That is a very cost effective of doing supervision and in a jail the supervision and labor costs is the number one expense in a jail,” Bladder said.

According to Bladder, in terms of square feet, the current jail is about 14,000, the new expansion will provide 25,000 square feet of additional space.

After the expansion is completed, the next step will involve the remodeling of the old county jail. The new cell blocks should be completed by next fall and the entire project should be finished in late winter of 2011.

The project is currently on schedule and under budget.

janchavarie Indiana, Jail and Prison Construction, Overcrowding

Georgia’s Ben Hill County jail is getting a new look, and most inmates won’t be thrilled. Reported on 14 WFIE.

The Sheriff is painting the entire jail bright pink. Pure Pepto Bismol Pink will cover every wall inside the jail.

“We are also going to have pink shower shoes, pink wash clothes, pink towels, pink sheets and pink blankets,” said jail administrator Martin Hough.

But why so much pink?

The Sheriff says there are plenty of reasons.

“Our goal here is not to just have a calming effect on all of the inmates but to make them not want to come back to the Ben Hill County Jail,” said Sheriff Bobby McLemore.

Its been six years since the jail was painted so most cells are overloaded with graffiti. It can also help keep the inmates behind bars.

Just months ago two inmates escaped from the jail wearing orange jumpsuits.

“If you see a bright pink jumpsuit you know we got an inmate on the lose,” said the Sheriff.

And the girls?

They get bright lime green.

The sheriff is taking it very seriously, all the way down to bright pink handcuffs.

“This is our decor and if they don’t like our decor then they don’t have to come back to our jail,” said the Sheriff.

Officials are hoping the new colors work wonders on the inmates.

“They really need soothing in jails they are extremely difficult to manage in county jails,” said Hough.

They are hoping to have everything pink within the next month.

janchavarie Georgia, Jail and Prison Construction

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction, MN Winona County

The Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority hosted a ground-breaking ceremony on Friday for its Amherst County Adult Detention Center. Story reported in the Times Virginian.

The 170,000-square-foot facility will consist of 380 beds, which be operated by the Authority and will replace jails in Appomattox and Amherst.

Both Appomattox County and Amherst County are jointly financing the $51 million regional jail, along with the BRRJA’s Moneta facility.

Construction is expected to be completed in December 2011.

Several Appomattox dignitaries attended the groundbreaking, including Appomattox Sheriff Wilson Staples, Appomattox Deputy Barry Letterman, Appomattox County Administrator Aileen Ferguson, Appomattox County Supervisor Gary Tanner and Appomattox’s Bobby Mitchell, who serves on the Virginia Department of Corrections Board.

Tanner praised the efforts of Appomattox and Amherst to share the costs of the regional jail, which allowed the Virginia General Assembly to cover 50 percent of the construction costs.

“There will be a tax savings to Appomattox citizens,” Supervisor Tanner said. “Today represents a journey.”

That journey, according to figures, will cost Appomattox County $499,000 annual in operating costs. That’s about $50,000 a year less than it would cost Appomattox to renovate and operate its existing jail.

The new regional jail will be located on 23.5 acres near the Route 210 connector off the U.S. 29 Bypass. The BRRJA plans to hire an additional 100 employees upon completion of the construction. The counties of Appomattox and Amherst joined the BRRJA in July 2007.

After a Planning Study and Community-based Corrections Plan was submitted, the Commonwealth of Virginia agreed to fund 50 percent of the eligible construction costs.

The new facility was designed by Moseley Architects of Richmond, with assistance from Hurt & Proffitt Engineering of Lynchburg,

The construction bid was won by HITT Contacting of Fairfax, which submitted a base bid of $33.8 million. Consulting fees, testing and environmental fees, inspections and other costs pushed the total to $51 million.

The Amherst facility will be built to conform to Department of Corrections standards and will range from one to three stories, including a basement.

It will consist of a structural steel frame with masonry and concrete load bearing interior and exterior walls, with a brick and block veneer. The jail will house minimum, medium and maximum security male and female inmates.

The population will consist primarily of pretrial inmates from Appomattox and Amherst, as well as sentenced inmates from member jurisdictions. The jail will also have a kitchen, medical and laundry areas, as well as program and recreation space for the inmates.

The BRRJA currently operates detention facilities in Bedford County, Bedford City, Campbell County, Halifax and the City of Lynchburg.

In January 2007, the Appomattox County Board of Supervisors voted to proceed with the regional jail effort. The supervisors’ vote was based largely on an overcrowding issue currently facing the Appomattox jail.

According to a study, Appomattox’s jail was built to house 12 inmates. In 2007, the jail typically housed in the mid-to-upper 30s, and that total is estimated to increase to 69 inmates in the next 15 years.

According to the data, Appomattox could expand the current jail to 69 beds with a construction cost of $11.1 million – or $787,000 annually for debt service.

In addition, the current jail would then face an annual operating cost of $549,000. The sum of the debt service and the operating cost adds up to $1.3 million annually. On the other hand, Appomattox could invest in the Amherst regional jail, which they did.

According to data, the regional jail would cost Appomattox $499,000 annually in operating cost.

And since Appomattox is already spending $222,000 subsidizing the current jail, the increase would only be $277,000 from what it is already paying.

In addition, the regional jail would require Appomattox to contribute to three reserve funds currently funding the BRRJA and being financed by the other localities.

The reserve funds would represent a one-time total of $343,000 and allow Appomattox to buy back into the regional jail concept that it rejected in the early 1990s.

As part of the proposed service agreement, the BRRJA would agree to hire all existing employees with the Appomattox County Sheriff’s Department.

The Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority would own the jail. Each locality within the authority would be entitled to one vote. In other words, Appomattox would have one vote, along with Campbell County, Halifax County, the City of Bedford and the City of Lynchburg.

Appomattox County began exploring the regional jail concept in 2003, when Amherst, Nelson and Appomattox attempted a regional project. The project was derailed, however, when Nelson opted to go with Albemarle County on a regional jail project in Spring 2005.

With only two localities – Appomattox and Amherst – a third was needed in order to qualify for 50 percent cost reductions from the state. That’s when the BRRJA stepped in. In June 2006, the General Assembly approved the BRRJA as a third partner with Appomattox and Amherst.

Once completed, the new regional jail in Amherst is projected to house 42 percent Amherst inmates, 14 percent Appomattox inmates, and 44 percent BRRJA inmates.

janchavarie Jail and Prison Construction, VA Amherst County, VA Appomattox County