By MIKE CORN
STOCKTON -- There's been a flurry of activity in recent days as the state's prison system rushes to reopen the Stockton Correctional Facility.
The minimum security facility will reopen Wednesday, adding 128 beds back into an already overcrowded prison system.
Perhaps
more importantly, at least as far as the Stockton economy is concerned, it
will add 32 jobs back into the community, many of whom transferred to the
larger Norton Correctional Facility when Stockton closed its doors.
"As of this morning, there was a pronounced increase in activity down there," Roger Hrabe, director of the Rooks County Economic Development Commission, said Monday.
The Stockton prison was closed April 1, 2009, the victim of state budget cuts. During the last legislative session, however, $1.7 million was put back in the state's 2011 budget to cover operating costs for the last nine months of the fiscal year.
"We will be transferring inmates to the east unit of the Norton Correctional Facility at Stockton on Wednesday," Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Miskell said. Stockton is an adjunct to the Norton prison.
During the course of the next five to six weeks, inmates from across Kansas will be moved in to the 128-bed capacity facility.
Once the minimum security facility is fully operational, Miskell said the DOC plans to "re-establish many of the agreements we had over the use of inmate labor."
That's sure to be good news for area cities, counties and lakes, which relied on roving crews of inmates for labor. Even the Kansas Department of Transportation used the inmate crews for small mowing jobs on Interstate 70 when Stockton still was open.
"We need something for these inmates to do," Miskell said. "And community service work is one of the few thing we have we can do that doesn't cost us money."
Throughout
the state budget crisis, the corrections department has been a relatively easy
target of budget cuts.
Those work crews likely won't be going out until after the facility is fully operational.
While there are 128 beds at Stockton, there will be 32 people working there.
"It's right at where it was before," Miskell said.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for many of Stockton staff.
Of the 20 who transferred to Norton when Stockton closed, 17 will be returning. Eight others at Norton have requested transfers because they live closer to Stockton than Norton.
One or two of the three who transferred to Ellsworth and Larned will be returning as well.
For Hrabe, it's an important step just seeing the jobs restored.
Early on, when talk of reopening first started, the Rooks County Economic Development Commission pledged its support to get the prison back in operation.
That $50,000 pledge, however, came before the money was added back into the state's budget.
"If they need it, they'll ask for it," he said.
* The opening of the minimum-security Stockton Correctional Facility will go a long way in terms of helping to resolve the issue of overcrowding in the state's total male inmate population.
As of Friday, Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Miskell said, the state had a total capacity of 8,131 inmates. Yet the population stood at 8,292 inmates -- 161 over capacity.
Stockton will be adding 128 beds to that capacity.