Other articles Private Prisons: A Sensible Solution The Drain of Public Prison Systems The Pros of Privately Housed Cons Privatization Benefits Private Prisons in Oregon: a Good Idea Private Prisons and the Public Interest A Guide to Prison Privatization Private Prisons have Public Benefits The Decision to Privatize Private Prisons Succeed New Garza County Facility Open for Business Seamlessly Transfer to a Private Management Team Building Prisons with Private Financing Garza: The Little County that Still Can Fannin County Groundbreaking Ceremony Changing of the Guard House Bill 1469 and prison privatization States Can Save Money by Privatizing Prisons Polk County Detention Facility Supports Security Effort While Broadening Revenues Corplan Corrections Inc., adopts new utility free buildings Prisons, 9-11, and Corplan Corrections Corplan Correction opens another facility Recent arrivals better educated Minutemen to patrol Arizona border Border Patrol grabs 1.15 million illegals

PRISONS - STATE VS. PRIVATE

Lisa Demer

Legislators weigh cost of contractor operating new prison. Report suggests a contractor could run megafacility for $6 million less.

JUNEAU -- The megaprison being built in the Mat-Su so far is coming in on time and within budget, but some legislators still are pondering whether a private company could run it more cheaply than the state.

A state deputy corrections commissioner told lawmakers Tuesday evening that his department did a quick analysis of that prospect after being directed to do so last year by lawmakers.

The single-page report by the Department of Corrections suggests a private contractor could run Goose Creek Correctional Center for about $6.5 million a year less than the state. The state expects to run Goose Creek for just over $68 million a year, compared with close to $62 million for a private operator.

Fairbanks Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, who took over drafting the state corrections budget last year, urged his House budget subcommittee members to tour the prison under construction to get a better feel for it.

"This is like a little city," he said at the subcommittee hearing Tuesday evening.

New Prison Construction Ahead of Schedule

Construction of the new prison at Point MacKenzie is slightly ahead of schedule - as is the economic boost it’s giving to the area. The new Mat-Su prison brings jobs to the Valley. News reported by KTUU.com.

Ground was broken for the $240 million facility on June 18, 2009. But the site has already been transformed, as a lot of work has been done over the past few months.

“You know, you don’t want to count your eggs before they hatch, but we’re on schedule and I think everyone is very pleased with the progress,” said project manager Roe Sturgulewski with Rise Alaska.

Four of the project’s five buildings are already up. Neeser says it expects all four will be enclosed by next month, with the roofs on and the exterior finished. Work will start next spring on the final building, which will house inmates.

“We’re cruising along,” said Neeser project superintendent Wayne Anderson. “We’re real close to being just a touch ahead of schedule.”

The medium-security prison sits on about 100 acres, of which the buildings take up about 10 acres. Each of the two main buildings are as long as three football fields - about the size of a cruise ship.

Approximately 450 people will work on this project during the three years it will take to complete it, and more than 95 percent of those workers live in the Mat-Su Borough.

“There’s a base of folks out here that have been driving to Anchorage for the last 30 years,” Anderson said. “They’ve always wanted the opportunity to work on a job out in the Valley, and of this scope, and not have to drive all the way to Anchorage. So that’s a very nice feature to have on this particular job.”

Anderson says Neeser strives to hire locally, because it just makes sense.

“It makes for good happy workers,” Anderson said. “We brought some of our key folks in, but beyond that everybody’s local and it’s really working well.”

Because of the local hires, building Goose Creek has already helped boost the region’s economy. But even after construction is over, it will take a staff of about 300 to run the correctional facility.

“The long-term economic impacts for the state, in terms of the jobs that it creates, is going to have a tremendous benefit,” Sturgulewski said. “I think this will provide a very nice anchor for this area of the Mat-Su Borough. And the people that are here are going to need houses, they’re going to need stores, they’re going to need services.”

The prison is being built to help alleviate overcrowding within the state.

Right now, approximately 850 Alaska prisoners are being housed in Hudson, Colo. Once Goose Creek opens in 2012, all of those prisoners will be moved to Point MacKenzie.