The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

The facility at 9300 S. Wilmot Road will also include up to 128 minimum-security prisoners who will participate in a work camp next to the high-security prison.

Many of the prisoners who will live at this U.S. Penitentiary and Federal Prison Camp will be transferred from West Coast facilities, Billingsley said. "We try to place offenders within 500 miles of their release residence," she said.

The facility will open after the passage of the federal agency's 2006 budget, which could be at any time in upcoming months, Billingsley said.

Construction on the prison began in 2003 on 15 acres. The facility is west of the Federal Correctional Institute and north of the Arizona State Prison.

Mary Lee Swann is a resident of Rita Ranch, a large subdivision east of the prisons. Swann said she is not concerned about the new facility opening.

One reason is that two other correctional institutions are already there, said Swann, a licensed practical nurse who moved to the area in September from Northwest Tucson.

Swann said another reason she is not concerned is that she used to teach girls and young women in detention and feels compassion for people who are imprisoned.

Another resident said he is confident that if an inmate does escape from the prison, people in Rita Ranch will not be in much danger. "Usually when somebody does break out of prison, they quickly leave the area," said Kent Bortz, who has lived in Rita Ranch about six years.

Bortz, who works as an engineer, said he also supports the new prison because of what it means for the Tucson economy.

"I think the good thing is that it generates a lot of jobs for people living here in Tucson, and I know we need that," he said.

The site of the new prison was chosen over other sites in Yuma because Tucson has the population and location to support it.

About half the employees for the new facility will be hired locally, Billingsley said. Between 350 and 400 full-time workers will take the jobs, which include guards, wardens, medical specialists, caseworkers, food service employees and trade workers.

To compete with the new employer, the Pima County Board of Supervisors earlier this month approved 18.7 percent pay raises for its corrections officers. This hike will make their salaries more competitive with officers working in federal prisons.

The raises, which will cost the county $400,000 this fiscal year and $1.6 million to $1.9 million next year, were approved in hopes of discouraging defections to federal jobs.

The plan boosts the starting pay for county corrections officers from $29,094 to $33,696 a year, which is within $1 per hour of federal corrections employees, said County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.