THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 23, 1994 TAG: 9412230506
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COLUMBIA LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Tyrrell County has been chosen to house a new, 500-bed prison work farm, Corrections Secretary Franklin Freeman said this week.
The minimum-security work farm will be built on a 174-acre tract near Columbia and will cost about $7.8 million, Freeman said.
Its inmates will grow fruits and vegetables and work on area community service projects. Of the 500 inmates expected to be assigned to the camp, 200 will plant and pick crops, 100 will work inside the prison and 200 will be assigned to area road work or community work projects, Freeman said.
State officials expect construction to be completed by fall 1996. Inmates will do most of the construction work. When complete, the camp is expected to employ 143 people with an estimated annual payroll of $3 million.
``County officials have said they are excited about the prospect of locating the work farm in Tyrrell County and are hopeful that this decision will be a steppingstone in the county's economic recovery,'' Freeman said.
Tyrrell County's project is one oftwo prison work farms scheduled for construction in the districts of two of the most powerful members of the state Senate.
The Columbia facility will be built in the 1st Senate District, home of Senate leader Marc Basnight of Manteo. A similar 500-bed work farm is being built in Caswell County, home of state Sen. George B. Daniel. Before his defeat in the November election, Daniel chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee, controlling much of the Department of Corrections' budget.
The Columbia prison farm is the latest in a series of projects that state and local officials hope will help boost Tyrrell County's economy. With a population of about 3,900 people, Tyrrell is the least populated county in the state and regularly records some of North Carolina's highest unemployment rates.
Earlier this year, the state Division of Marine Fisheries opened a satellite office in the county and work was begun on a self-guided trail through Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge as part of a four-county, eco-tourism project.
Also recently, N.C. State University announced that Tyrrell County will be home to a $5 million 4-H camp that will be a center for environmental education in eastern North Carolina.
The camp, to be named the Walter B. Jones Sr. 4-H Environmental Education Conference Center after the late congressman, will include a main conference center that will provide lodging for 100 people, a kitchen and dining room for 250, an auditorium that will seat 400, conference rooms, classrooms and an infirmary. by CNB