
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 26, 1995                   TAG: 9510260067
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium

POTENTIAL PRISON BUILDERS NARROWED DOWN

Wythe County apparently has one chance in four of getting a private prison that some county residents actively oppose.

The state Department of Corrections on Wednesday narrowed the field from eight companies to three, with four proposals for building a 1,000-bed minimum-security prison.

One of the three remaining companies, Corrections Corporation of America, has an option on a site in the Bowling Green section of Wythe County, near Wytheville, where it could build the prison if it wins the contract. It also has a site in Lunenburg County that it owns.

The other two companies still in competition for the project are U.S. Corrections Corp. of Louisville, Ky., which has looked at potential prison sites in Bland County, and Wackenhut Corrections Inc. of Coral Gables, Fla., which also has checked out potential sites in Southwest Virginia. It could not be determined Wednesday where in Virginia either company would build the prison if it won the contract.

Earlier, the Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA lost its bid for a 1,500-bed medium-security prison planned for the Wythe County site. It was that project that generated the original opposition and led to the formation of Citizens Against the Prison, a group that has been lobbying for nearly a year against placing any private prison in Wythe County.

Some residents - including Mark Munsey, chairman of the Wythe County Board of Supervisors - took their opposition to Richmond on Wednesday.

Two supervisors who favored the project, Jack Crosswell and Olin Armentrout, got endorsements Wednesday from the Virginia Police Benevolent Association Inc., along with county Sheriff Wayne Pike and supervisor candidate Mike Fariss.

Once a company is chosen, Corrections Director Ron Angelone said, the department will enter into two contracts. One will be for the private company to build the prison, and the second to operate it for the first five years. Both contracts will be reviewed by other state agencies, including a review to make sure private construction and operation is more cost-effective than the state's doing it.

The department will negotiate further with the three companies to refine proposals and seek lower bids for the project.

Memo: ***CORRECTION***

by CNB