CENTRAL COAST LEADERS TOUR COLORADO PRISON

8/1/99 FLORENCE, Colo. - You can barely see it from a distance, only an
above ground water tank and guard towers rising from a plain on the edge of
the Rocky Mountains in south central Colorado.

As you get closer, you realize that, by design or not, it doesn't look like
a prison complex. The view of the facilities from the two-lane road leading
up to the complex is mostly blocked by terrain.

As you near the first set of buildings that house the low-security prison
camp, it looks more like a modern office building or a new resort hotel,
with its red brick and tinted windows contrasting against the flat,
mostly-barren landscape. It isn't until you drive further into the complex
that you see the fences and razor-wire that say "prison."

But the group of Central Coast business and community leaders knew exactly
what lay behind the modern exterior - a high-security prison that houses men
that have committed the most serious and heinous crimes. Realizing that you
get nervous.

The trip was arranged by the Bureau of Prisons and funded by taxpayer
dollars to the tune of some $23,000 - all done to convince them that having
a similar facility in Lompoc would not be bad.

The Lompoc Record was invited and went along on the trip for a first-hand
look at the prison along with the community leaders at BOP expense.

Lompoc's federal prison facility is being considered as the site of another
prison, similar to the one in Florence. The bureau is still in the process
of deciding where it will put its newest prison.

Entering the lobby of the U.S. Penitentiary at Florence, you're greeted by a
courteous but strictly business-like staff and one staffer begins barking
orders to the milling group of visitors:

"Fill out the long form first, when that is done, fill out the short form.
Then get your picture taken and have your arm stamped."

It's all business and then you realize the importance of it all. The forms
and papers get you into the penitentiary - the stamp on your arm gets you out.

"It was scary," admitted Gary Keefe, Lompoc's utility director, after the tour.

Mayor Dick DeWees concurred: "It was unusual to be among the inmates. I
think we were the subject of inspection more than they were."

Once through the entrance, the group was taken into the guts of the prison
and greeted by Warden Ray E. Holt who answered questions before the real
tour began.

One's first impression is that of a modern office or school building - warm
tones, light green paint, lots of windows. Then there's lots of bars, this
is a prison, after all.

Accompanied by a phalanx of assistants, Holt leads the group through the
various facilities, explaining the programs, often introducing staff to
answer questions, always greeting staff as the group winds it way around.

Holt points out that, like most federal prisons, this one is housing more
than 1,000 inmates, far above its rated capacity of 640.

That's why the group is here, the bureau needs more beds for high-and
medium-security inmates that are coming into the federal system, according
to Rodney Anderson, a prison site selection specialist.

Anderson wants a new penitentiary in Lompoc and he makes no bones about it:

"We need the beds. We're getting 1,000 new inmates a month," he said.

The average sentence for inmates in a high-security prison is 18.2 years and
is most likely a drug offense, according to Anderson.

The Florence penitentiary, which opened in February 1994, is the latest
design by the bureau and contained some unique features, according to Holt.

All windows within the compound look inward and no inmate has access to
windows that look outward, Holt said. To give the prison some light, windows
abound, although covered with horizontal bars, and give a feeling of
openness to the inmate.

Cameras, lots of them, are placed at strategic points and officers in a
control room can monitor all areas of the compound at all times. And, of
course, your travels through the penitentiary are punctuated by the sounds
of doors electronically opening in front of you and closing behind you.

It's not a prison of the "Hollywood type" and looks more like a regular
building.

"I though it looked like a Colorado school building," said Marlene Demery,
Lompoc's Community Services director.

As you progress through the complex, inmates are everywhere - cleaning,
buffing, painting - a reflection of an endless supply of cheap and captive
labor.

And the facilities, about 4 1/2 years old, are spotless.

Holt takes the group through the medical, recreational, library and work
facilities.

Like most penitentiaries, this one has a furniture factory that produces
products for sale to government agencies.

Inmates must qualify to work there - it pays the highest wage available - 92
cents an hour if you have achieved your high school equivalency - otherwise
it pays 43 cents an hour. It's another carrot that prison officials dangle
before inmates to achieve good behavior patterns.

Currently the operation makes wooden chair components and drawers. Some 230
inmates work on a day or evening shift.

Next stop was the inmate housing units - triangular in shape, the housing
modules contain some 100 or more prisoners with cells on two levels - two
men to a cell that is no larger than a large walk-in closet - bunk beds, a
sink and toilet, and a small writing desk.

In the center of the triangle, on the ground floor, are tables and chairs
where inmates can talk, play games, or watch TV.

But this isn't a country club setting, explains Holt. Prisoners pay for the
washers and dryers, the cable TV and the earphones required to hear the
programs.

Now it was back to the cafeteria and lunch.

A sample menu for the week was provided with prison officials emphasizing
that each meal costs approximately 70 to 75 cents for each inmate due to
buying in extremely large quantities and storing food in an on-site warehouse.

On the day of the tour, breakfast consisted of seasonal fruit, hot oatmeal,
scrambles or boiled eggs, potatoes, biscuits, coffee, tea and milk.

Lunch offered grilled burgers, french fries, condiments, a salad bar, ice
cream or fresh fruit, coffee, iced tea and Kool-Aid.

Dinner that night would see spaghetti with meatballs, spinach, garlic bread,
salad bar, assorted desserts or fresh fruit, iced tea or Kool-Aid.

Inmates eat in shifts and meals are served at a specific time period only.

Reaction to the tour was universally positive, but the group still expressed
concerns about the construction of a new prison facility in Lompoc.

"(The tour) did help me with my environmental concerns," said Stacy Lawson,
Lompoc's environmental coordinator. "My concerns are for lighting, size,
security measures, and number of inmate families."

"My concern is relative security and impact on the community," echoed Lompoc
City Administrator Frank Priore. "I'm also less optimistic about their being
a source of local employment."

Anderson and the bureau received criticism at a March meeting in Lompoc
about the bureau's plans to add a high-security facility to the existing
complex.

Anderson stresses that the bureau is on an aggressive building program with
new complexes under consideration in Lompoc and Herlong in Northern
California. A complex is already under construction in Victorville.

"We're going full scale, we need the beds out there," he said. Anderson adds
that he is working on 12 proposed sites across the county with 24 others up
for consideration - with the East and West coasts being a priority location.

But local leaders emphasized that the jury is still out as far as they are
concerned.

"It seemed to me that some impacts on the social side are of some concern,"
said Denny Anderson of the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitors
Bureau.

Lompoc's Demery, said, "There's a lot of issues that can't be answered on a
site visit - those will be answered through the environmental document.
Noise, lighting, the airport are things we are interested in reviewing when
that information is available.

"I think if we were sold any kind of a 'bill of goods' it was the same thing
they told Florence, which was there would be a lot of local jobs there."

The decision to locate in Lompoc, according to the bureau's Rodney Anderson,
now awaits the completion of the draft environmental impact statement and a
public hearing in Lompoc in two months or so.

While most of the Florence facility is similar to others across the county,
the site does contain the only Administrative Maximum penitentiary, knows as
"SuperMax" where inmates are "locked down"- confined to their cells - 23
hours a day.

Currently the bureau has more than 30,000 employees at the 94 facilities
across the county that hold some 130,000 inmates.