CORCORAN CONSIDERS 2 MINIMUM-SECURITY PRISONS

Decision On Whether The Town Gets Nod Could Come Next Spring.

CORCORAN - A decade ago, locals in this Kings County town counted on a new
state prison to alleviate chronic unemployment caused partly by the farming
economy. In 1997, they got another round of hope when the walls of a second
state prison for substance-abusing inmates went up.

Those expectations fell short. Fewer than 20% of the prisons' current
employees are Corcoran residents, according to Don Pauley, who recently
stepped down from nine years in the city manager's post. Unemployment in
September was 10.4%. And farming operations remain the main source of jobs
outside government.

But Corcoran, which identifies itself as the "Farming Capital of
California," is turning to prisons again.

This time, city officials have partnered with a Bakersfield company to
propose two small prisons for minimum-security inmates. The proposal is in
response to a California Department of Corrections' request, put out
earlier this year, for companies to build four so-called "community
correctional facilities" throughout the state.

"We welcome any industry here," said Corcoran City Council Member Joan
Garcia-Munoz. "But we have what they Community Correctional Corporation
want, and that's land, infrastructure and people who will work."

Community Correctional Corporation, vying for two of those four state
contracts, came to Corcoran shopping for sites. The city welcomed the
proposal, said Rocky Ritchie, the company's administrative officer.

"It's a perfect spot for us," Ritchie said. "When you're bidding a site,
it's location, location, location. You have to find a place that is
amenable to having a correctional facility and Corcoran is."

The city completed an environmental study on the project late last month.

It's available for public review until the end of this month when it goes
before the city's planning commission for a vote. The corrections
department will begin its evaluation of bids after Jan. 4, said Jeanie
Esajian, department spokeswoman. A decision should be made by April or May.

If Community Correctional Corporation wins the bid, it would build, own and
operate the two prisons, Ritchie said. The company does not currently
operate any of the 16 community correctional facilities in the state.

Minimum-security inmates with short sentences or serving the last stretch
of a long sentence would be housed in two 500-bed prisons on property just
north of the existing state prisons.

"Growth in the inmate population at that level of custody and the growth in
inmates with substance abuse problems" prompted the state to request
proposals for four such prisons, Esajian said.

For Corcoran, it could mean 230 new jobs and another 1,000 heads to count
in a census, boosting federal and state funding based on census figures.

"Any time we can add a business-type entity to create work and permanent
jobs for our residents, we'll work for that," Garcia-Munoz said.

"This does more than bring jobs too. It creates a bigger tax base from our
local businesses who would provide services to them proposed prisons."

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