The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

News & Observer
(Raleigh, NC) Saturday, January 8, 2005

By DAN KANE, Staff Writer
Two years ago, in the wee hours of the final night of state budget negotiations, Senate leaders inserted a provision into the state budget to build a $90 million close-custody prison in Columbus County.

Today, that prison is about to be built. It's a plum for lawmakers there, who hoped to deliver the jobs a new prison would bring to the area about 120 miles south of Raleigh. But the N.C. Department of Correction's inmate population estimates raise questions as to whether it is needed.

The estimates show that when the 1,000-bed prison opens in 2008, the state will have a surplus of more than 700 close-custody beds.

Those are the most expensive beds the state can build. Close-custody prisons are single cell, heavily reinforced structures. A 1,000-bed medium-custody prison costs about $15 million less, while a similar-size minimum-custody prison would be roughly half the cost.

WHAT PRISONS COST

Cost of a new close-custody prison: $90 million.

Cost of a new medium-custody prison: $75 million.

Cost of a new minimum-custody prison: $45 million.

N.C. DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION

And Correction's population estimates show those medium- and minimum-security prisons face serious overcrowding in the next several years. The same year the new prison in Columbus County is supposed to open, the department estimates that medium-security prisons will have nearly 600 inmates more than they can handle, while minimum security prisons will have more than 700.

By 2013, those deficits are projected to climb to more than 3,000 inmates in medium-security prisons and 1,900 in minimum-security prisons. But the state will continue to run a surplus of close-custody beds.

The estimates from early 2004 first caused Prisons Director Boyd Bennett to question the need for a close-custody prison, but he now believes it should be built. He said it provides the most flexibility because it can house medium-security inmates, while a medium-security prison can't house close-custody inmates.

"This is the best situation for us," said Bennett. "We are constantly thinking about the protection of staff, the protection of inmates and the protection of the public."

Bennett and Bill Stovall, the prison system's engineering director, also said the estimates could be faulty, and a change in the construction plans would only delay adding beds to a crowded system and waste several million dollars spent on design and other pre-construction costs for the Columbus prison.

Jobs called real issue

Some legislators say the estimates suggest the state might not be getting the best bang for its buck. They also say the Columbus County prison is being driven in part by their colleagues' desire to provide jobs in a depressed part of the state.

"The unfortunate result of an economy that is in distress is that prisons are seen as economic development tools," said state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Carrboro Democrat.

Rep. Dewey Hill, a Columbus County Democrat, said the prison would provide about 400 jobs for a county hit hard by textile factory closings and reduced demand for tobacco. But he said there's a need for the prison and if Columbus didn't get it, another county would.

"We're hoping we can get a lot of our people employed," he said.

He and other legislators also say that the state can't risk having too few close-custody beds.

"The thing we hear from our constituents is that we deal with the worst offenders," said state Sen. R. B. Sloan, an Iredell County Republican. "The folks want to make sure those people are in prison."

The close-custody prisons are intended to house the state's most dangerous criminals, serving long-term sentences. But Bennett confirmed that two-thirds of the cells are taken up by inmates who had originally been assigned to medium- and minimum-security prisons. They were transferred after causing trouble.

If the Columbus County prison isn't built, and the money were spent on
medium- or minimum-custody prisons, the system would have a deficit of 300 close-custody beds in 2008.

System flexibility cited

David Chester is the superintendent at Craven Correctional Institution, where many inmates first go to be evaluated and then assigned to a prison. He said that a 300 inmate deficit is a small enough number that the system could find room for those inmates in medium-security facilities if the money went toward expanding those or minimum-security prisons.

"You promote 300 from medium to minimum and that wouldn't be too hard," he said.

The Columbus County prison is the last of six close-custody prisons approved by lawmakers since 2001. They have paid for the prisons by using a lease-purchase method that doesn't require a public vote. A private company builds the prisons and then the state makes lease payments for the next 20 years, before assuming full ownership.

Three prisons for Alexander, Anson and Scotland counties were approved in 2001, and have all opened. Lawmakers authorized three more -- for Bertie, Greene and Columbus counties -- two years later. The latter three drew sharp debate in the House Finance Committee, because the Senate had included them in its budget without the committee's input.

Some House Finance committee members said at the time that lawmakers should look at less expensive alternatives to reduce the prison population, such as reducing some sentences, and hold off on the Columbus prison. But proposals to reduce sentences went nowhere in the legislature, and the prison was reinserted into the budget.

The Greene and Bertie prisons are under construction and slated to open next year. The state has accepted a site from Columbus County but has yet to sign a construction contract.

Bennett said that if there aren't enough close-custody inmates to fill Columbus when it opens, he'll move in medium-security inmates. Staff writer Dan Kane can be reached at 829-4861 or dkane@newsobserver.com.
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