THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 8, 1996 TAG: 9608080386
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: 67 lines
The state's first private prison will be built in Pamlico County, rather than on a rural tract in Currituck County's Maple area.
Currituck officials said they were disappointed with the decision, but they also hoped the area would be considered if the private prison industry expanded.
``We worked really hard to work it out for Currituck County,'' John Mulvey, the county's economic development director, said Wednesday.
``We saw a benefit with the number of jobs and the expanded tax base for Currituck County, but we didn't get it.''
Mulvey had said earlier the prison would generate about 130 jobs and $182,500 in tax revenue annually.
The General Assembly announced without fanfare last week that the state's first two private prisons will be built in Pamlico County and in Avery and Mitchell counties.
Cost apparently was the deciding factor for the location of a 500-bed, 233,000-square-foot prison to be built by U.S. Corrections Corporation of Louisville, Ky.
The state about two months ago awarded U.S. Corrections a $70 million contract to build two prisons.
The North Carolina Department of Corrections' expenses for a 10-year lease and five years of operating costs in Pamlico are expected to be $67,861,204. The average daily inmate cost will be $39.53.
In Currituck, those expenses amounted to $69,417,350, or $40.11 per inmate daily, said Patty McQuillan, the public information director for the North Carolina Department of Corrections.
The 130-acre tract that was submitted in Currituck's bid involved private farmland adjacent to an existing, medium-security prison housing about 100 inmates.
Another site that had been considered once was on county-owned property near the airport. But that land also contained well fields that serve as a county water source, Mulvey said.
``We understand their decision,'' Mulvey said. ``We just wish they'd come here. It would have dropped our unemployment rate by 1 percent to 2 percent.''
Most people who live in Currituck County must go outside the county to earn a living, either to the Outer Banks, Elizabeth City area or Hampton Roads.
Mulvey and other county officials were hoping the new prison, which drew little opposition during two public forums, would reverse that trend.
The Pamlico and Avery-Mitchell facilities are part of a prison expansion package approved by the state legislature.
Private prisons generally can be built more quickly than state prisons because of less red tape. They also are usually less expensive.
``One reason private prisons can operate less expensively is because they don't have the administrative costs that a large department like this one does,'' McQuillan said.
``And they generally offer lower benefits and pay than the state does as a way to reduce their costs,'' she said.
Also included in this year's legislative package will be $5 million worth of modular units to expand the capacities at several existing facilities.
More than $2.3 million also was approved to plan and design new prisons in Alexander and Scotland counties and expansions at Central Prison in Raleigh, Warren Correctional Institution and the N.C. Correctional Institution for Women.
The Governor's Community Work Program will add 714 inmates to its current enrollment of about 1,200 for community projects, such as painting and trash pickup.
The Department of Corrections budget for 1996-97 is $837,205,300. The department employs 14,000 correctional officers statewide who oversee 28,258 in-state prisoners and 1,783 out-of-state inmates.
The department also oversees 115,000 offenders on probation or parole. by CNB