TOOELE COUNTY IS AWARDED UTAH'S FIRST PRIVATE PRISON

It's final: Tooele County has the new state prison deal locked up.

Construction on the new site -- about nine miles north of Grantsville --
will begin as soon as the contract is signed, and inmates for the 500-bed
prison should begin moving in by July 2000. The decision was announced
Monday morning.

"Cornell Corrections Inc. [of California] got some of the highest scores in
several areas," said Jack Ford, Utah Department of Corrections spokesman.
"They're not the cheapest, but their bid was the best."

Cornell will be paid $62.84 per inmate a day to run the facility.

This is the first Utah prison to be run by a private company, a concept the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) finds troubling.

"We want to look closely at how the contract is constructed, to assure it is
monitored for violations of civil liberties," said Carol Gnade, executive
director of the Utah ACLU. "The whole idea that the government is handing
over what is normally a duty of government to a private entity is
troubling."

Grantsville has competed for the past six months with a Fillmore facility,
which would have been operated by Utah-based MTC; one in Wendover, operated
by CCA; and one in Duchesne, operated by Wackenhut.

"We needed a place that had the support of the community, a good design and
construction plan and that had sufficient staffing," Ford said. "Most of the
competing cities' elected officials have called and asked if it were true
that we chose Grantsville and if we would reconsider."

Though each city faced some opposition from community members, officials
also knew the prison could bring in jobs for 150 to 200 people, as well as
money from travelers visiting relatives in the facility.

Ford said the only opposition Grantsville faced were from the owners of a
warm-springs diving hole and a lime-mining quarry. Both feared theft, and
both later supported the idea.

Ford said utility lines to the quarry also will support the prison.

Tooele County Commissioner Gary Griffith said the Grantsville site made the
most sense.

"It's the closest to the freeway and the airport," Griffith said. "We
supported both Tooele County sites [Grantsville and Wendover] as long as the
people wanted them. The county won't see much of the revenue because 70
percent of it will go to the school district. But it's nice to have it
rather than just houses for a tax base."

Kent Peterson, Wendover city manager, hoped for something to help the city
provide jobs. Many of Wendover's 1,800 citizens work in casinos in Wendover,
Nev.

"We're disappointed, but I'm glad it's in Tooele," he said. "Our citizenry
was very much in favor of it. We're competing with big brother on the other
side who has all the gaming."

Peterson said Wendover is still seeking other opportunities.

"The prison was a quick fix," he said. "We worked hard, and we really
appreciate being considered. We'd like to be considered if anything comes up
in the future."

Fillmore treasurer Annette Johnson said Fillmore faced the greatest
opposition to the proposed prison.

In an non-binding election, the majority of people voted against it, she
said.

"There were a lot of people in town who didn't want it, and a lot of people
who are sad," Johnson said. "Only two council people objected to it.'

Johnson said the prison might have been an advantage because the town of
2,500 people depends on the government and a local mushroom plant for jobs.

"They hoped the people would come around, but we never got it back for a
vote," she said.

In Duchesne, treasurer Joyce Nance said city officials were disappointed.

"We had mixed support, but more people were for it than against it," she
said.

Duchesne's 1,500 residents work mainly on farms, for the school district and
at local machine shops.