CORCORAN UNCONCERNED ABOUT LOSS OF 2 MORE PRISONS

But Bakersfield Company Wants Answers About The Decision Change.

CORCORAN - City officials said Monday they're indifferent to the state
suddenly scrapping plans that could have brought two prisons into town.

Corcoran's Planning Commission canceled a meeting Monday night after
hearing that the Department of Corrections reversed its request for private
companies to build and operate four 500-bed prisons around the state. The
commission had been set to vote on a Bakersfield company's pitch to build
two such prisons in Corcoran.

The state's about-face - announced late last week - also canceled a special
City Council meeting slated for tonight that would have brought a final
decision.

"I can't speak for the whole council, but I really don't think my community
was ready for more prisons," said Mayor Ruben Quintanilla. "I don't think
people here were convinced that there would be that many new jobs and that
public safety would be protected."

Community Correctional Corp. spent about $500,000 on plans shopping its
proposal around Corcoran, said Greg Greeson, projects director for the
company. That includes money the company spent pitching two other prison
sites in Kern County. All four proposals were part of a competitive bid
that corrections officials requested in June, Greeson said.

The company's plans are up in the air until they get a clearer explanation
from the state, he said.

"We're still getting mixed messages," Greeson said. "The state tells us
it's because numbers are down, but then how do they explain inmates
sleeping in gymnasiums?"

But corrections officials say it is a simple matter of numbers.

"This decision is based strictly on inmate population figures," said
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jeanie Esajian. "We felt like the
drop in numbers couldn't justify the expenditure."

The department houses about 161,000 inmates. Between September and
December, the population declined by nearly 1,500 inmates, Esajian said.
The department reviews its figures twice a year and could see another
change in the spring.

"We don't know if this decline is a long-term trend or if it will be just a
short-term falloff," Esajian said.

Greeson says there's more behind the reversal than numbers.

"I think this is Gov. Davis' payback to the union for their $2 million
campaign contribution last year," he said.

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the prison guards'
union, denies having influence on the decision.

"Of course we are very vocal about being against privatization," said Rod
Nason, president of the union's Corcoran chapter. "But there's nothing we
did to bring this about. I believe the department did this because they
don't have the numbers to justify those prisons."