$60 MILLION PRISON SET TO OPEN IN TELFAIR

Telfair Prison Opens

McRAE -- Many state and local officials went to prison Wednesday, and they
couldn't have been happier.

Just days before the first inmates arrive, Corrections Corp. of America
held a dedication ceremony for its new $60-million, 1,500-bed prison in
Telfair County.

After the ribbon cutting, the roughly 200 people in attendance were taken
on guided tours.

"The facility is excellent," McRae resident Lester Evans said. "However, I
don't want to be a member of it."

The prison is popular with residents in Telfair County, which has lost
nearly 1,500 jobs in four years.

But Wednesday's opening was a long time coming. The company struggled to
get an inmate contract while the completed prison sat vacant for more than
a year. In May, the Federal Bureau of Prisons announced it would fill the
facility with criminal aliens, most of whom will be Hispanic.

Inmates will begin arriving the first week of December, with 40 to come
each week until the prison reaches capacity, Warden Michael Bell said.

The prison will eventually employ 455 people, and 280 are already hired
with 237 now on the payroll.

CCA brought in experienced corrections officers from its other prisons as
far away as Puerto Rico, Mississippi and Texas.

McRae business leaders say they are already seeing the economic impact.

"My business has increased 40 percent," said Spencer Gay, owner of Badcock
Home Furnishings in McRae. "The sales have really not meant as much as the
people coming in. We have only begun to see the impact on this community."

Speakers at the ceremony included Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, House
Speaker-nominee Terry Coleman and the company's CEO, John Ferguson.

The prison competed with 19 other communities for the contract, and
Ferguson credited the victory to elected officials and the enthusiasm of
the community.

Taylor said by supporting the prison, Telfair County residents are doing
their part in the fight against crime.

"When you are tough on crime you have an obligation to build facilities to
house the criminal element," he said. "Until we eliminate poverty in
America, until we eliminate drug and alcohol abuse, we are going to have
crime in America."

Coleman said U.S. Sens. Zell Miller and Max Cleland, and Sen.-elect Saxby
Chambliss contributed heavily to persuading the Bureau of Prisons to select
McRae.

"I've never seen a joint effort like this on any project this large," he
said. "For those of us who believe in economic development and public and
private partnerships, we are overjoyed."

"The opening of this facility will be an economic asset to several
counties," said Telfair County Chamber of Commerce director Carol Lavely.

Though the prison is bringing in many corrections officers from its other
facilities to add experience to the staff, most of those hired are
entry-level employees.

Ora Jean Cooper of McRae worked at Amercord in Telfair County for 12 years
before the plant closed in June 2001. She is now a corrections officer at
the prison, having started training in August.

"It's a challenge, and I love a challenge," she said. "I've learned a lot
about corrections. I was just amazed by all the stuff they teach us."

She isn't nervous about working around inmates, she said, because she had
contact with inmates while training at CCA's prison in neighboring Wheeler
County.

"They are people just like we are," Cooper said.

Like many of the newly hired officers, she plans to take Spanish classes to
better communicate with the inmates. The inmates are sent to prison for
committing crimes, not for being illegal aliens. Once they have completed
their sentence, they will be deported.

The tour gave residents a look at something they ordinarily wouldn't see.
Parts of the building, including the education wing and medical center,
look more like a high school than a prison.

Guests were given a look at isolation cells that house problem inmates, and
regular cell blocks. New inmates will stay in large dormitory type rooms,
where 44 inmates sleep on beds in cubicles, with showers and toilets in the
same room.

The idea is for them to work their way up to staying in 2-bed cells, which
would offer far more privacy than the dorms.

"Privacy is worth more than gold to an inmate," said corrections officer
Jeffrey Braswell, one of the tour guides.