It's a need for jobs vs. social concerns in Appleton prison debate

After two years of government not buying into a proposal to house inmates at a vacant, privately-owned prison in Appleton, Rep. Tim Miller (R-Prinsburg) is proposing the state buy the facility.

Miller sponsors HF3106, which would appropriate $139 million in bond proceeds to purchase and improve the Prairie Correctional Facility. The proposal would allow the Department of Administration to spend up to $74.1 million to buy the 1,660-bed, 17-building prison and use the rest for remodeling.

The House State Government Finance Committee approved the bill Wednesday on a 9-5 party-line roll-call vote, sending it to the House Capital Investment Committee without recommendation. Its companion, SF2686, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Lang (R-Olivia), awaits action by the Senate Capital Investment Committee.

Last session, the Legislature directed the Department of Corrections to hire an independent firm to assess the 26-year-old Prairie Correctional Facility and report back to lawmakers by Jan. 15. The findings by Facility Engineering Associates and Klein McCarthy Architects show that although the prison is in “good shape for its age,” it would require $78.69 million in repairs over 15 years, with the bulk of that – some $57.49 million – needed in years six through 15.

“This is about the Department of Corrections saying they have a need,” Miller said.

WATCH Committee debate on the Appleton prison proposal

If the state purchased the prison, currently owned by CoreCivic, formerly Corrections Corporation of America, it would immediately have to address concerns such as plumbing, rooftop mechanical equipment, asphalt and mold – with an estimated $8.81 million price tag, according to the Klein McCarthy study. Costs would increase every year, for everything from kitchen equipment and fencing to lighting and windows.

Although the prison doesn’t currently house inmates, officials say it has been minimally maintained.

“It’s ready to go,” Swift County Commissioner Gary Hendrickx said. “But it’s basically in very good shape. Overall, for the future of our communities, the stability of western Minnesota, we are looking for the jobs that would be created and the good-paying jobs that are offered through the prison system and the Department of Corrections.”

Miller told the committee the prison would create between 300-500 jobs for the Appleton region.

JaNaé Bates, communications director for ISAIAH, testifies March 14 in the House State Government Finance Committee against HF3106, which would provide funding to acquire the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton. Photo by Paul Battaglia

The Prairie Correctional Facility has sat vacant since 2010, after then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, decided to stop renting beds in the Swift County complex, nearly a three-hour drive west from the Capitol. Two years ago, Miller proposed moving inmates into private prisons and, despite the initial committee go-ahead, it stalled before hitting the House Floor. Last session, Miller’s proposal was included in the public safety omnibus package that Gov. Mark Dayton later vetoed.

But the need for jobs in rural Minnesota and using the prison as an economic boon was met with opposition from faith leaders, community organizers and academics who said there are significant racial disparities in prison population.

“If you, we, as members of this board, decide to purchase human cages, you are putting a face on the elusive prison industrial complex,” ISAIAH Communications Director JaNaé Bates said. “Our financial decisions also have human consequences. So how far are we willing to go for a few dollars, a couple ‘fluid’ jobs? How far are we willing to go to separate parents from their children, spouses from their partners, entire communities without their people?”

Representing AFSCME Council 5, Sgt. Rick Neyssen, a 25-year corrections officer working in St. Cloud, said buying the Appleton prison “would have many negative results” for both staff and inmates, from a lack of law enforcement support in the region to questions about prison officer funding.

Committee DFLers, in a failed attempt to transfer the bill to the House Public Safety and Security Policy and Finance Committee, said the solution to Minnesota’s overcrowded prisons shouldn’t be more prisons, but emphasized their desire to spend the money before individuals get arrested.

“We have discussed this endlessly in public safety and it hasn’t gone anywhere for a reason,” Rep. JoAnn Ward (DFL-Woodbury) said. “One of the conclusions we have come to is the money would be better spent in other facilities and in youth prevention.”