Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The nation's biggest private prison company has lost out in its bid to build a 1,500-bed, medium-security prison in Wythe County.
But Corrections Corporation of America of Nashville, Tenn., still holds an option on about 500 acres just outside Wytheville along Interstates 81-77, and the site will be among those considered for a private 1,000-bed, minimum-security prison.
"I'm thrilled to death," said Linda Butt, a member of Citizens Against the Prison, which was organized soon after CCA announced its plan for the 1,500-bed facility last December.
"We're encouraged because we feel like maybe they're hearing us. And if they're hearing us now, we can yell even louder. ... We're going to see that this county remains prison-free as long as we have this organization."
State Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore announced Tuesday that the Department of Corrections rated Corrections Partners Inc. of Kansas first and Wackenhut Corp. of Coral Gables, Fla., second among nine private prison companies offering proposals.
Kilgore said the public opposition in Wythe was considered but was not a key factor.
"When it came down to it, it was based on business matters - operating price and construction price," Kilgore said.
The contract is still subject to negotiation. But, based on Corrections Partners' figures, he said, "We're pretty confident that we can reach a deal with them."
Corrections Partners has a Brunswick County site. Wackenhut has possible sites in Mecklenburg, Greensville and Charlotte counties.
CCA acquired Corrections Partners as a subsidiary last month, but that does not affect either company's proposal.
"The Wythe County site in this particular case was submitted as part of CCA's proposal," said Susan Hart, a CCA spokeswoman. "It's already put to rest from our standpoint."
She said she could not comment on whether CCA has offered the same site for the 1,000-bed project, because the state's guidelines for proposals forbid companies from publicly discussing specific sites. CCA announced its proposed 1,500-bed site before submitting its proposal to the state.
Kilgore said the state now will go through the same process with companies bidding for the 1,000-bed contract. He confirmed that CCA is among them.
The Wythe County Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 in February to welcome CCA. But that was based on the understanding that 342 jobs would be filled, all but about 100 acres of the land would be given to the county for possible use as an industrial park, and CCA would build a facility there for local prisoners in place of the county's aging jail.
It is not known how those factors would change with a 1,000-bed CCA project, but the number of jobs, at least, would drop.
"It opens a whole new ball game," said Speedwell District Supervisor Jack Crosswell, who supported the 1,500-bed project from the start and made the motion to welcome CCA. For him to support the 1,000-bed project, he said, "they'd have to do a pretty good selling job.
Wythe County has been split on the potential benefits and drawbacks of a prison. Supporters mainly have talked about jobs, while opponents have cited concerns ranging from a prison's effect on the county's reputation to the strain on social agencies that might result if families of prisoners moved here.
The bitter debate also has affected local elections. Supervisor Olin Armentrout, who recommended CCA as a good industry and voted to welcome it, was denied candidacy for re-election by his own Democratic Party and is running as an independent. Crosswell switched from Democrat to Republican to run for re-election.
The anti-prison organization apparently will continue its effort to oust the pro-prison supervisors.
by CNB