PRISONS A BAD WAY TO CREATE JOBS

When people are desperate, they do dumb things. Such is the case with
what's going at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler.

Western Tallahatchie County is one of the most impoverished areas of
the Delta. With no manufacturing and with farm jobs displaced by
mechanization, the people there are so desperate for work that they
will take anything that comes their way - including guarding criminal
cast-offs from half a continent away.

When Corrections Corporation of America wanted to build a "spec
prison" in Mississippi, the Nashville-based company had to find a
place such as Tallahatchie County, where the local populace and their
elected representatives aren't likely to be too choosy.

CCA didn't pick Tallahatchie County because of the quality of its work
force. At first, the private prison company had trouble finding enough
potential guards who had a high school diploma and who could pass the
drug-screening test.

The Legislature, busy with a prison-building program of its own in the
1990s, said to CCA, "If you can make a buck and provide some jobs,
build away. But don't look for Mississippi to keep you in business.
Oh, and another thing, we're a little suspicious of what kind of folks
other states might be exporting our way. Thus, we don't want anything
worse than medium security."

All that history is quickly being forgotten in a desperate attempt to
hold on to about 250 modestly-paid jobs in an area where unemployment
rates chronically stay in the double digits.

The original business plan of CCA, teetering on bankruptcy a few years
ago, was obviously flawed. It miscalculated the demand for
medium-security space, or the capacity of states to pay for housing
these inmates outside their borders.

Wisconsin, the first customer, never sent as many prisoners as
anticipated and pulled them out a year after arrival. Alabama has for
the last few months filled the void, but its cash-strapped treasury
can't afford to keep making the payments.

With apparently no other medium-security prisoners in the pipeline,
the Legislature hurriedly passed a bill this month to allow the
Tutwiler prison to start housing maximum-security inmates. CCA,
according to reports, wants to transfer Hawaiian inmates from its
facilities in Oklahoma and Arizona.

The governing authorities in Tallahatchie County say they want local
control over the decision of who is housed at the prison. They argue
that if they're comfortable with maximum-security inmates as
neighbors, why should the Legislature care?

Why? Because if there's a prison riot or escape, neither CCA nor
Tallahatchie County is going to fix the problem. They'll both be
crying to the state for help.

Should Hawaii agree to the transfer, it's a safe bet that Tallahatchie
County won't be getting model prisoners among the murderers, rapists
and child molesters who are shipped in. Why would any state keep its
incorrigibles, if someone else is willing to house them?

Maximum-security inmates from other states are supposed to keep afloat
CCA's operation in Tutwiler. If they don't, though, Gov. Haley Barbour
is offering a fall-back. He's asked the Legislature's permission to
house state inmates in Tutwiler.

Barbour is already committed to reopening Delta Correctional Facility,
the Greenwood private prison that CCA is likely to get the contract to
operate. The Republican says utilizing Tutwiler too would be cheaper
than using state facilities, but his motivations are somewhat suspect.

CCA has been a major contributor to the Republican Governors
Association, giving at least $110,000 last year. In turn, the
governors' group funneled $4.25 million to Barbour's record-smashing
campaign war chest. Conveniently, Barbour's prison strategy is also
beneficial to a corporate donor's bottom line.

If Barbour were truly looking for a cheaper approach to corrections,
he would be trying to convince lawmakers and the public that locking
up the preponderance of lawbreakers is a costly and ultimately
counterproductive approach to crime. He'd be advocating house arrest
and statewide implementation of drug courts. He'd be supporting
relaxing the state's truth-in-sentencing law, which has fueled the
prison inmate explosion.

As Barbour, however, said in his State of the State address, job
creation is his No. 1 priority.

Even, apparently, if it means going whole hog into the people
warehousing business.