Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 23, 1995 TAG: 9501230020
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Long
David L. Myers was a Texas prison warden when he first encountered the idea of private prisons.
Now he is president of Corrections Corporation of America, which plans to build in Wythe County its 28th private prison.
Myers joined the Texas Department of Corrections as a guard in 1968 - a temporary job to help pay for college. He was studying criminology and thinking of law school, perhaps the FBI, or college teaching.
``Had no intention of staying,'' he said. ``And I got promoted and got promoted. ... Before long, they gave me a house, and I couldn't leave.''
He spent 17 years with the Texas department and, in 1985, heard a lecture about a move toward private prisons. ``It made so much sense that I got interested, sitting in the audience,'' he said.
Myers talked about it with someone from CCA at the time, and the corporation recruited him that year to run one of its jails, in Panama City, Fla.
By late 1986, he had moved to CCA headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., as vice president for operations. Last June, he became president.
One thing that had impressed him about CCA was that it was able to get liability insurance. As president of the Texas Corrections Association, he had looked into that.
``Nobody would even talk to us,'' he said. ``I didn't know much about them [CCA], but I knew they were doing something right if they had attained that.''
The planned 1,500-bed prison on a site two miles east of Wytheville has polarized people in Wythe County.
One side agrees with county Supervisor Jack Crosswell, who thinks the prison will boost the county's economy. Others, like former House of Delegates member Chuck Lacy, argue that it will work against county efforts to recruit industry, tourism and retirees.
``I understand it. I honestly do. ... It's fear of the unknown. It doesn't bother me. I mean, I raised my kids on a prison,'' Myers said. ``Of course there'll be problems. Our job is to handle those problems. We can and we will.''
Among the opponents' concerns is that the prison, which would be the largest of CCA's facilities in eight states and two foreign countries, will get even bigger in the future. Myers says no.
``I was warden of a 3,000-bed maximum-security prison,'' he said. ``I think that was too large. I think 1,500 is not. ... I'm president of the company, and I don't anticipate it ever being larger than that.''
Another concern is that families of prisoners will move here to be closer to inmates.
``That's not been our experience,'' he said. ``Number one, it's expensive to move.'' Besides, there is no assurance that a prisoner will serve his entire sentence at one facility. ``That person may be transferred to the other side of the state the next day,'' Myers said.
He also said concerns that the prison will take out-of-state inmates are unfounded. The company doesn't move prisoners out of the state in which they are sentenced. As for taking federal prisoners, he said, ``there's no design right now to do that.''
The sweetener for Wythe County is that the prison will take local jail inmates, saving the county from having to spend an estimated $4million to replace its aging jail. There would be a separate area for jail inmates, he said, but it still would draw on the prison's support system.
Opponents say the major jobs would go to outsiders, not county residents, and Myers said that probably is true. ``We'll be bringing in top management. They'll be experienced. ... Our wardens average 24 years' experience,'' he said.
The warden, assistant warden, security chief and possibly some shift supervisors fall into that category, he said, but there will be hundreds of jobs for area residents, including about 200 guards, and an annual payroll of about $8 million.
They must be at least 18 years old and have high school diplomas or the equivalent, he said. ``Everyone who comes in there is going to have to pass the drug-screening tests. They'll undergo background checks.''
The training program is about three weeks, plus a week on the job. CCA does its own training but would gear it to the Virginia laws and rules under which this prison would fall, he said.
CCA's advantage over state facilities is being able to bring a prison on line more quickly and operate it more economically, he said. ``Anything that comes on line quicker is normally cheaper,'' he said.
``We anticipate that, once we start, this'll be 12 to 14 months,'' Myers said. He said there is no firm opening date, but if all goes well, the prison could open as early as mid-1996.
Virginia will pay a per-day cost for each prisoner, to be negotiated. There would be no reason for the state to use the prison if its costs are out of line, he said.
Virginia's ending of parole and increased sentences for violent offenders are state responses to what its citizens want, as Myers sees it. ``They want to see some people locked up.''
Does Myers expect to contend with prison riots because prisoners no longer will have hope of parole?
``People have to adjust to what they have to adjust to,'' he said, but prisoners still will have incentives for good behavior such as activities and visiting privileges that can be revoked. ``Small things become very important in prisons,'' he said.
``There's a lot of talent locked up in prisons. You'd be surprised,'' Myers said. ``There'll be academic and vocational training available, jobs available for the inmates. ... We like to keep the inmates working.''
Many prisoners never have experienced the simple discipline of regular work, he said. If nothing else, they can learn that.
Dana Moore, CCA's business development director, was the company official who visited potential sites for Virginia's first private prison and who recommended Wytheville.
Wythe County had the available land, a community with a good work ethic, human resources for staffing, a community college, professional services, and two interstate highways.
``This is a project that we've been working very hard on and we're very excited about,'' Myers said. ``We're focusing just on this right now, although we're going to be looking for some additional sites. But, one step at a time.''
by CNB