Eden, county leaders visit prison

A bus filled with civic and government leaders from Eden and Rockingham County pulled away from Eden City Hall on Wednesday morning headed for Alexander Correctional Institution in Taylorsville. Although many on board joked about being left behind at the end of the tour, all returned home with a greater understanding of the state and local partnership required for the placement, construction and maintenance of a prison.

Sponsored by Eden officials, the trip’s goal was to educate participants concerning the economic impact of the Taylorsville facility on the local community. There was also considerable interest in how the town and county governments built community support for placing the prison there and how that placement changed local dynamics.

“We’ve held meetings about the possibility of requesting a prison in the area the last couple weeks with representatives from the Department of Correction and number of local citizens,” said Mike Dougherty, Eden’s economic development director. “That helped provide all of us with an overview of what other communities have gone through to get a prison and what happens after they open. This trip to Taylorsville builds on that by giving everyone a chance to actually see one of these facilities and talk to the prison officials and local leaders that partner to make it work.”

A recent 10-year projection by the N.C. Department of Correction indicates the Division of Prisons will need housing for an additional 6,000 inmates by 2017. With work already under way for expansions at three existing facilities – including Taylorsville, DOC is beginning to play for three new stand-alone prisons. Two of those facilities will be male medium custody, and the third minimum custody.

Eden and Rockingham County hope to attract a 1,008-bed, medium custody prison scheduled to open in 2015 to a site within the 1,750-acre Whitt Farm property off Harrington Highway south of Eden. According to information provided during Wednesday’s panel discussion at ACI, the state requires a 150-acre site that would be suitable for future expansion.

Rockingham County Manager Tom Robinson said projections for future growth indicate the initial 1,008 beds should be just the first phase of what the project could provide the county.

“The state is building these facilities to expand to 1,500 inmates, which would provide employment for up to about 480 people,” Robinson said.

Those jobs were the major focus of both municipal and county leaders in seeking to obtain a prison within the county.

“Absolutely, this is primarily about jobs,” said Eden Town Manager Brad Corcoran. “These are jobs that are recession proof. They’re not jobs that are going to go to China or South America. These facilities are built to last for decades and even to expand as needed. The way we look at it is, the initial 330 jobs is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Alexander Correctional Institution is a 1,000-cell, close custody prison that opened in Taylorsville in April 2004. The facility employs 489 people at present, with about 35 percent of those coming from Alexander County.

Construction recently began on a new minimum custody and medical facility on an adjoining portion of the original acreage provided by the county for construction of the Taylorsville prison. When completed, more than 100 jobs will be added to the current employment rolls.

Robinson said he discovered several parallels Wednesday between the route Alexander County took to procuring a state prison and path already traveled by Rockingham County. Taylorsville Town Manager David Odom told the Rockingham County delegation that local governments first began thinking about locating a prison there in the late 1990s.

“At that time, unemployment was only about 2 percent and the furniture industry was healthy in our area,” Odom said. “When a lot of citizens voiced opposition to the idea, local officials decided to drop the issue.”

When the furniture industry began shipping jobs out of the country and unemployment nearly tripled, those same leaders began to take another look at the jobs a prison would bring back to the community.

“That changed the dynamic of the situation and the great debate took a different direction the next time we looked at the issue,” Odom said.

The prison has been a good neighbor for Taylorsville, according to Odom. In addition to the jobs and revenue provided to the town and county, employees from the facility have provided support for local fire departments and law enforcement.

“The town of Taylorsville has just 23 full-time employees,” Odom said. “If we ever run into an emergency situation like a severe storm or something, I know the prison would have six officers there to help us within a few minutes and more if we needed them.”

Alexander County Sheriff Hayden Bentley supported Odom’s claim. He said corrections officers from the facility have helped his officers on several occasions during searches in the area.

“It’s like having an extra group of trained law enforcement personnel there to lend a hand when needed,” Bentley said.

Robinson said other tie-ins between a prison and local community include use of local hospitals and medical personnel. Although 70 percent to 80 percent of the prison’s employment involves correctional officers, the staff also requires nurses and additional medical personnel, dental staff, mental health providers, maintenance and administrative staff.

Keith Whitener, administrator of Alexander Correctional Institution, told Rockingham County officials it was likely many of the initial jobs at a new prison would come from outside the county where it was located. Several of the administrative and technical positions would require experience and skills not readily available in many areas.

“But as time goes by, many of those that come from other locations want to move back closer to home and the new personnel gain experience and skill that allow them to take over those positions,” Whitener said. “There are some prisons that have more than 80 percent of their staff from the local community. It all depends on a lot of factors.”

One of those factors is the availability of training, and Corcoran said NCDOC has partnered with local community colleges wherever they locate to help train new staff members. That partnership also involves training and educational opportunities for inmates, as well as staff.

“It’s another way the prison system gets involved in the community and helps provide growth in more ways than just employment,” Corcoran said. “They’ve proven they are interested in being good neighbors and stimulating growth where they locate. I think it would be a tremendous asset for our municipalities and county to have one here.”

Boyd Bennett, Division of Prisons director for NCDOC, said the process of selecting sites for new prisons is complicated. At present, several counties are interested in acquiring one of the three new facilities needed by 2017. Construction takes 24 to 27 months, so the sites will need to be decided within the next year to provide time for funding and planning to be completed.

Robinson said NCDOC would turn over a list of counties with suitable sites to the General Assembly and legislators would make the final determination.

“We do all we can to make sure we have site that is right for the prison and make it onto the list, but then it becomes political,” Robinson said. “At that point, it’s all up to the legislature to decide who gets the new prisons.”

Robinson said it was possible the next session of the General Assembly could make a decision on the first couple of sites by next summer.

One of the downsides to obtaining a prison explained during Wednesday’s panel discussion was the financial obligation for local governments. Alexander County Commissioner William Hammer said the county had to pay $1 million for the property used for the Taylorsville prison.

“We had to make the investment, then donate the property to the state to build the prison,” Hammer said. “And being a state institution, that land comes off the county’s rolls and is not taxed.”

Robinson expects Rockingham County’s investment to be much less than Alexander’s. The county still holds first option on the Whitt Farm property, and Robinson believes it could be had for $3,000 an acre or less.

“Anything over that and the county’s investment becomes prohibitive,” he said.

Infrastructure, such as water, sewer and natural gas, would also have to be available for the new facility. Currently, only water is available along the Whitt Farm property from Dan River Water lines.

Corcoran believes Eden could find grant funding to take care of running the necessary sewer lines to the property selected for a potential site. Alexander County and Taylorsville officials said they received grant funds from several agencies that paid for the necessary lines to be completed for their facility.

“Having the necessary infrastructure in place for the prison would also help open up the rest of that property for additional development,” Corcoran said.

Robinson agreed that a lack of infrastructure had previously been a deterrent to development at the mega site. He said he did not believe a prison would hinder industrial development in the area.

“That’s a common misconception,” Robinson said. “There are plenty of industries that would not consider the location of that type facility when looking for a site location.”

The next step for municipal and county leaders is a meeting with NCDOC officials today to look at potential sites within Rockingham County. In addition to the Whitt Farm location, Robinson said there were undisclosed sites in the Stoneville area and another section of the county under consideration by the state.

“They will look at all three sites and decide on which might be suitable for their purpose,” he said.

The next public meeting concerning the project will be Monday at 5 p.m. at Eden City Hall. This will be a public information session including town, county and DOC officials.