Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160156
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jim Hunter, vice president of Dominion Leasing Inc. in Edmond, Okla., said Tuesday that Franklin is one of "six to eight" counties being looked at as a potential location for the private, 396-bed, minimum security facility.
Dominion Leasing has not chosen any specific sites in Franklin County, Hunter said.
"Our principle thrust right now is to get the facility as close to Richmond as we can get," he said. "At this point, we're looking at areas all over the state."
Hunter said Franklin County is suited for a prison because it has areas of unzoned land that would eliminate the need for a rezoning process.
Franklin is the only county in the state with partial zoning. Four of its voting districts are zoned, and three are not.
"That's the only reason Franklin County was added to the list," he said.
Franklin County Administrator Macon Sammons Jr. said he met briefly with Hunter at the County Administration Building on Friday, but few details of the prison proposal were spelled out.
Sammons did say the prison would be an $11 million investment in the county and create about 100 high-paying jobs.
"It's an an economic development possibility," he said.
The Richmond-Times Dispatch reported Tuesday that a 60-acre site near Ferrum College in southwest Franklin County is under consideration as a backup to more attractive sites in Amelia and Powhatan counties near Richmond.
Sammons said Hunter did not discuss the Ferrum site with him.
Robert Buchanan, the president of a company working with Dominion Leasing, was the source of the Franklin County information in the Times-Dispatch story.
But Hunter said Buchanan, president of Corrections Partners Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., "has nothing to do with the site selection."
Buchanan could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Dominion Leasing and CPI have agreements with the Virginia Department of Corrections to build and operate two prerelease centers that would offer job training to inmates 90 to 180 days before their release dates.
One of the facilities will be on a 60-acre site in Brunswick County.
Sites for the second prison have been rejected in four other Virginia localities.
Hunter said his company is responsible for the development, construction and financing of the prisons. CPI will operate them.
The end of parole in Virginia will create the need for as many as 27 new prisons within the next 10 years.
Gov. George Allen and lawmakers say privatizing some of the prisons could help defer the costs associated with eliminating parole - estimated at between $1 billion and $2.2 billion.
by CNB