{"id":1941,"date":"2011-06-06T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/06\/we-really-need-it-in-the-county-really-bad-grayson-county-va.html"},"modified":"2011-06-06T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-06T20:00:00","slug":"we-really-need-it-in-the-county-really-bad-grayson-county-va","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/06\/we-really-need-it-in-the-county-really-bad-grayson-county-va.html","title":{"rendered":"“We really need it in the county really bad.” —Grayson County, VA"},"content":{"rendered":"Is Lowndes County in such bad shape that we, too, want a private prison,\nno matter that there’s no business case for it?\nOr should we learn from one bad business bet and not double down on another?\n

\nSusan Kinzie wrote in the Washington Post 30 May 2011,\n\nNew Virginia prison sits empty, at a cost of more than $700,000 a year<\/a>\n

\nThis is how bad the economy is in southwestern Virginia: People are\nwishing they had more criminals in town.\n

\n\n<\/a>\nThat\u2019s because Grayson County has a brand-new state prison standing\nempty. No prisoners. And that means no guards, no administrators, no\nstaff, no jobs.\n

\n“I wish they would go ahead and open it up,” said Rhonda James of\nMouth of Wilson, echoing many residents there. “We really need it in\nthe county really bad.”\n

\nThree hundred new jobs \u2014 maybe 350 \u2014 that\u2019s what people were told\nwhen the prison was planned. With about 11 percent unemployment and no\nrelief in sight, that sounded really good to an awful lot of people here.\n

\nBut months after the commonwealth finished building the 1,024-bed\nmedium-security prison for $105 million, it remains empty, coils of razor\nwire and red roofs shining in the sun, new parking lot all but deserted\nand a yawning warehouse waiting for supplies.\n

\nAnd it\u2019s costing more than $700,000 a year to maintain.\n<\/blockquote>\nMeanwhile, the story continued, Virginia has closed 10 prisons\ndue to budget shortfalls and lack of prisoners.\nAnd it’s not just Virginia:\n\n\n

\n“Recent forecasts across the country have flattened for adults and\njuveniles, both state and local populations,” Larry Traylor, a spokesman\nfor the Virginia Department of Corrections, said in an e-mail.\n

\nIn Virginia, he said, “crime rates and most arrest rates are down,\neven for violent and heavier drug crimes, which are primary drivers of\nthe forecast.”\n<\/blockquote>\nCrime is not up.\nState spending is down.\nBuying into a prison is a bad business gamble.\n

\nAccording to Col. Ricketts as quoted by the VDT<\/a>,\nthe Industrial Authority just spent $115,000 on\n\na bad deal that never happened.<\/a>\nWant to try for $700,000 a year?\n

\nOr how about we don’t build a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia.\nSpend that tax money on education instead.\n

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