Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Nevada County Not Considered For Prison

There will be no new prison facility in the Prescott-Nevada County region despite the efforts of community leaders.

Thursday, May 2, Jim Sharkey, executive director of the Nevada County Economic Development Office, State Sen. Mike Ross, Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor and John Brannon Jr., president of the Bank of Prescott, went to Little Rock to attend a meeting of the Arkansas Department of Corrections Board of Directors.

Representatives from the other eight communities being considered for the prison were also on hand.

All went with hopes of being chosen as the site for the new minimum security prison facility, eight returned home with their hopes dashed.

According to Sharkey, members of the ADC board did not talk to the Prescott representatives directly. In fact, he said, the only question they asked anyone was the racial makeup of Newport -- where the prisons were awarded.

When the prospect of a new prison was first addressed, the Prescott leaders geared their plans toward getting the male facility. Originally there were to be two separate prisons: one for men and one for women.

Prescott leaders based their proposal on criteria given to them by the Corrections Corporations of America (CCA).

However, unbeknownst to those in Prescott working to get the prison, there was another private prison company in the running with CCA.

When all was said and done, Wackenhut Corporation of Coral Gables, Fla. was awarded the contract to operate the prisons, and Newport was chosen as the site for both facilities.

"We had been invited to attend their board meeting," Sharkey said. "We were told it would be advisable for us to be there to answer any questions they may have."

Representatives from the other eight counties had apparently been told the same thing.

The prison was the only item on the agenda, Sharkey said. The board discussed the issue in open session for about two hours, weighing the pros and cons of each community, then making its decision.

The final four communities, Sharkey said, were Newport, El Dorado, Warren and Wrightsville. He will attempt to find out where Prescott finished in the rankings and what the drawbacks were so the community can work to correct them.

"We don't have any information now," he said. "The selection was based on a number of factors we weren't told about."

The board, Sharkey said, mentioned Newport had a high unemployment rate (9.9 percent according to April's figures from the Employment Security Division), and offered the most property, 410 acres. This land is also located near a major four-lane highway (Highway 67) and is near an airport.

"Each community had some obvious thing to offer," Sharkey said.

However, before voting on where the prisons would be located, the board voted on whether to build two separate prisons or one to combine the two.

The board chose to combine the two units into one and awarded the contract to the Wackenhut Corp.

"The criteria sheet for the cities," Sharkey said, "came from CCA. It asked for information as it would apply to a men's facility.

"The criteria changed, and we don't know when or why.

"When the criteria changed," he continued, "the CCA criteria may not have been what was chosen."

Sharkey said Wackenhut did not look at Prescott as a possible location for the prisons, nor did it look at other areas in the running.

He said Prescott didn't respond to any criteria sheet from Wackenhut as it did for CCA, but this was because Wackenhut never sent a criteria sheet to Prescott.

"We responded to the CCA's interest," he said. "Wackenhut may have done the same thing, but we never got the information, and they never visited.

"Had we been given the opportunity," he said, "we would have responded for both units."