Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 6, 1994 TAG: 9412060113
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Long
The proposed $40 million, 1,500-bed, medium-security facility has the enthusiastic backing of Wythe County's sheriff and the county supervisor who represents that part of the county.
It could be built and in operation before mid-1996, if the timetable announced Monday at a news conference called by the Wythe County Joint Industrial Development Authority holds up.
Dana Moore, business development director for the Corrections Corporation of America, said environmental and other preliminary studies should be complete in 30 to 60 days. Construction would take another 12 to 14 months, she said.
County officials are expected to ask the town of Wytheville to provide water and sewer services to the site in partnership with the county.
This would be CCA's first Virginia prison. The company, founded in 1983, operates 27 prisons in Tennessee, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas and Louisiana, as well as Puerto Rico, England and Australia, with a total of more than 13,300 beds.
CCA became interested in Virginia when the General Assembly approved Gov. George Allen's initiative to abolish parole and increase time to be served for violent crimes. These actions are expected to increase the state's prison population.
Moore said CCA has been working with Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore on simplifying the necessary legislation to pave the way for the prison when the assembly convenes in January, so similar projects elsewhere in Virginia also can get quick approval.
``We have every confidence that we will be getting permission to go ahead and build this,'' said Moore, a former state legislator in Tennessee. ``We made a commitment to Governor Allen to get this up fast. It would take the state about three years to construct something like this.''
``Certainly we hope to encourage Virginia's move to private prisons,'' Kilgore said Monday in Richmond. ``They do bring certain advantages ... We don't have to make the capital expenditures. Secondly, we don't have to hire the employees. They are tax-paying businesses for the state, once they get there.''
He said CCA has gotten a head start on the process by finding a site, one of the most difficult parts of getting a prison built.
The prison would be operated under a contract with the Virginia Department of Corrections, which would pay an amount still to be determined per day for each state inmate. Moore said there are no current plans to house out-of-state or federal prisoners.
But it would take Wythe County prisoners, which Sheriff Wayne Pike says would solve a long-standing problem. The county's aging jail was built in 1926 for 14 inmates. Now it is sometimes 300 percent over capacity, he said, and it probably would cost $4 million to build a new one.
Wythe would continue to hold work-release and short-term-arraignment prisoners at the present jail, Pike said. ``We'll be back to what we should be holding, probably 12 or 15 inmates.''
Besides being outmoded and overcrowded, Pike said, the present jail is near an elementary school, town pool and public park.
The new prison would be located on 100 acres of a 533-acre farm tract in a relatively isolated area. The land, owned by Daniel and Tamara Suthers, is about two miles east of Wytheville, near the county's solid waste transfer station.
Wythe County was among the localities that paid for a study of a regional jail to be built in neighboring Pulaski County with 50 percent state funding. It has since withdrawn from that project.
It wasn't immediately clear what impact, if any, this prison would have on the regional jail.
Pike said he had looked into the background and stability of CCA. ``It's a viable, professionally run company,'' he said. ``As sheriff, I'm happy to have this company here in Wythe County.''
``This is indeed a win-win situation,'' agreed Supervisor Jack Crosswell, whose district includes the proposed site. ``They will build a $40 million structure on which they will pay taxes. ... They will have an annual payroll of over $5 million, and most of that money will be spent locally.''
Moore said CCA started looking for its first Virginia prison site several months ago. A number of localities expressed interest but were eliminated because of topography and other problems. She said Wythe County's advantages included a good work force, education and training programs available through Wytheville Community College, lack of zoning, and proximity to interstate highways.
Besides being able to work extended hours to complete construction, she said, a private company has the advantage of being able to buy the products it needs locally.
``We don't have to do low bid,'' she said. ``That's part of what we're giving back to Wythe County to say thanks for letting us be here.''
She hoped CCA's reputation would help curb any objections to locating a prison here. ``Two or three of us from Nashville will be coming in to meet with all sorts of local groups ... anyone who wants to hear more about us and what we're up to.''
NOTE: Ran on C-1 in Metro.
by CNB