GERIATRIC UNIT TO BE BUILT AT LEXINGTON

HELENA -- Thanks, but no thanks. After getting proposals from nine
communities wanting to land a privately run geriatric prison, state
Corrections Board members Friday voted to turn them down and build the unit
at an existing state-run prison.

Lower operating costs and the security of knowing elderly and ailing
inmates will remain at a geriatric prison without the risk of losing a
contract with a private firm were key factors, members said.

"We'll always have those people," board Chairman Michael D. Roark said.
"And that population will be growing."

The state Corrections Department has about 3,900 inmates in private
prisons, and that number will grow to 5,400 by next year. But Roark said
members became skeptical of contracting with a private firm to house old
and ailing inmates.

"We'll have more control over the future of that population," Roark said.
"What do you do when somebody says they've got a better deal and you got to
move them? To where? We don't have another place to move them at that
point."

The 250-bed geriatric prison will have a 50-bed infirmary. It will also
have an 80-bed transient housing unit for inmates needing routine medical
checkups.

Board members voted unanimously to build the geriatric prison and infirmary
at Joseph Harp Correctional Center at Lexington.

Corrections board members estimated construction would cost $18.7 million.
It will cost slightly more to build the unit at Joseph Harp, but the state
will reap savings in operating costs, board members said.

Board member Beverly Young said first-year start up and operating costs
would be $6.6 million. Annual costs in subsequent years would be $5.8
million.

Annual operating proposals to build and operate the state's first geriatric
prison ranged from $8.4 million to $14.9 million. Roark said some of the
savings come from using services already in place at the correctional
center.

"The fences are there, the laundry's there, the kitchens are there, the
food service is there," he said. "It just turned out to be a more cost
effective way to do it."

Getting inmates to the transient-care unit also will be less expensive,
Roark said.

"Our regular buses already run the route," he said. "All they've got to do
is pick up people that need to come for their appointments."

Oklahoma has about 14,700 inmates in its state-owned prisons but only has
35 beds set aside for ailing inmates, corrections Director James Saffle
said.

"It's just more cost-effective in the long run to have them all in one
place that we can take advantages of the free medical services that are
afforded to us," Roark said.

Saffle said about 150 inmates now qualify for the geriatric prison.

"What we're trying to do is look at expansion," he said. "We're not trying
to build a shoe that just fits the foot now. We know we're going to grow so
we're trying to fit it against the expansion."

The plan calls for three new buildings. Inmates at the geriatric prison
would be kept in cells.

It's expected the prison, infirmary and transient clinic will require 134
new employees, Saffle said.

The prison would be for male inmates only, he said. A women's geriatric
unit could be built at the Mabel Bassett women's prison after inmates are
moved to a medium-security women's prison being built at McLoud.

By taking action Friday, the agency has a last-minute chance to seek money
for the project.

It's possible legislators next week -- the last week of this year's session
- -- could include the geriatric prison in shell bills circulating in the
House and Senate, Saffle said. Or it could be part of a statewide capital
improvements bond package, he said.

State Sen. Cal Hobson, the Senate's point man for corrections, said he
thinks his colleagues will be receptive. The new unit would be in his
district.

"The board taking that first step tells us where the executive branch is,
and I can't think of any reason why we would resist their decision," said
Hobson, D-Lexington.

He said the chairmen of both the House and Senate appropriations committees
supported the idea of a state-run geriatric unit, giving it a better chance
of passage.

Since the agency would need time for site development and engineering, the
issue might be postponed until next year if a funding mechanism can't be
worked out next week, Hobson said.

Communities that sought the prison were Lawton, Harrah, Holdenville,
McAlester, Chickasha, Cherokee, Union City, Henryetta and Thomas. Many went
after the prison for the jobs it would provide.

Seven communities planned to contract with a private firm to build and
operate a geriatric prison. The others submitted bids only to build a
prison.

"Some were offering us their old unoccupied hospitals and stuff like that,"
Roark said. "Some of them were just not feasible."

In other action, the board approved a drug-free workplace program for
employees at all of its prisons, centers and offices. The policy includes a
"zero tolerance" standard, meaning those who are tested and found to be
using drugs will be terminated, said Debbie Boyer, administrator of human
resources for the department.

Employees who seek help with a drug problem before they are called to be
tested for drugs will be given the chance to seek treatment, she said.

Board members are also optimistic that the growing number of private
prisons in Oklahoma will result in the corrections department having to pay
a lower lease rate.

The corrections department had been paying $43 per inmate per day to
prisons owned by Corrections Corporation of America. Recently the
department inked a deal with Wackenhut Corrections for $40 per inmate per
day.

Contracts with private prisons in Cushing, Holdenville and Hinton come up
for negotiation this summer.

Staff writer Anthony Thornton contributed to this report.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)