The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

The Council of State, which includes the governor and many of the state's top officials, announced plans Tuesday to fast-track more than $744 million in capital improvement projects designed to create 26,000 jobs and stimulate the state's economy.

Included is $18 million for a School of Education building at Elizabeth City State University, the governor's office said.

Work on a new dormitory to house 504 prisoners at the Bertie Correctional Institution at Windsor should start by summer, said Bill Stovall, deputy secretary of the North Carolina Department of Correction in Raleigh.

With November unemployment at 9.1 percent in Bertie County and reaching double digits in neighboring Chowan and Halifax counties, the prospect of new jobs is welcome news.

"It's good because we need additional bed space," said Anthony Hathaway III, the Bertie Correctional Institution's administrator. "When you're looking at today's economy, it also will provide opportunity for jobs for people. We hire from surrounding counties. It's a plus."

The new jobs will be primarily for correction officers but will also include some education and support staff ers, Stovall said.

The Bertie prison, which opened in August 2006, is 20 miles southwest of Edenton. It houses 975 men in a facility that can hold 1,000 inmates, Hathaway said. The inmates range in age from 21 to 68.

The level of security at the Bertie prison is "close," or one level down from the state's only maximum security prison, in Raleigh. The new dormitory will be for prisoners requiring a medium level of security.

Stovall, who also is in charge of state prison construction, said a request to house 252 more inmates at Bertie could be made as early as the upcoming session of the General Assembly. Those would be minimum-security prisoners. Bertie eventually could be built out to hold 1,756 prisoners, he said.

North Carolina's inmate population, now at 39,814, is "still growing fairly robustly," Stovall said, with 800 to 1,000 new beds expected to be needed annually for the next decade.

Expansion of the Bertie prison could start "as soon as cash flow is available," Stovall said, possibly by March or April.

"We'd buy the materials immediately and likely start construction in the summer," he said.

Stovall said his department is considering using inmates to build the new dormitory to save money and teach inmates marketable skills leading to journeyman certification.

Facilities for a total of 1,008 beds also will be added to state prisons in Lanesboro, Scotland County and Tabor City, Stovall said.

An expansion of the women's health and mental health facility in Raleigh will cost $45.2 million, according to a press release from the governor's office.

The Bertie prison is one of six correctional institutions built between 2001 and 2008 that were designed to be expanded, Stovall said.
Source URL (retrieved on 01/11/2009 - 13:02): http://hamptonroads.com/2009/01/close-20m-okd-bertie-county-prison-expansion