A state Department of Corrections director told White Lake commissioners Tuesday that she hopes a new prison will be built near the current Bladen Correctional site.

"In my opinion," Pat Chavis said, "I'd like to see the new facility built here."

Chavis served as superintendent at the Bladen Correctional Facility in the early 1990s, she said. She is now Director for the South Central DOC region.

Bladen County is one of several areas being considered for construction of a new 1,000 bed prison, if the legislature approves the funding. The prison will cost around $70-80 million dollars to construct if the legislature approves the plan by July 1.

After that date, new construction regulations would boost that cost to nearly $100 million.

Bladen is being considered for the project in part because the state already owns sufficient property around the correctional facility to build the new complex.

Chavis said the prison would be a major employer in the area, bringing in over 400 permanent jobs when the facility opened, about two years after construction is completed. The extant facility has 60 full time staff members.

Local contractors and service providers are used whenever possible, Chavis said, and many of the prison's day-to-day requirements would be purchased locally.

Chavis said few people consider the impact prisoners' families have on the economies of communities around prison facilities.

"We have plenty of people who travel across the state to visit their family members who are in prison," she said. "They eat, they shop, they stay in local motels."

Inmates would also be housed in single cells which could be locked down electronically from a central area.

The proposed three-story facility will be surrounded by two fences and a "dog run" area, Chavis said. Sensors along the fence detect any breaks that may occur, and show up on a lighted map display in the guard posts.

Patrol vehicles are also equipped with the map display device, Chavis said, and vehicles are constantly on patrol around the facility.

Prisoners also do not have much of the free outside access afforded at other facilities.

"They have exercise areas and recreation areas," she said, "but not like at other facilities."

The only escape from one of the new model prisons occurred several years ago in Nash County, Chavis said. Two prisoners used a ladder that was left unsecured to scale the fences and flee the prison. They were later recaptured.

"The safety of our neighbbors is our number one priority," Chavis said.

Mayor Goldston Womble expressed concern over the appearance of a new facility.

"Will there be any way," he said, "that people on U.S. 701 headed for White Lake can avoid looking out and seeing what can only be a great big prison?"

Chavis said the DOC tries to design landscaping to help prison facilities blend in with the surrounding area.

"We are big on beautification," Chavis said.

If it is located at White Lake, Chavis said, the prison will require no more than 125,000 gallons of water and sewer per day. Public Works Director Tim Frush told the board that improvements to the town's water and sewer systems will make the town able to handle the extra usage by the time construction is completed, if the facility is located here.

The current prison at White Lake is scheduled to be closed down in 2006, Chavis said. The only way a correctional facility would remain here, she said, is if the new prison were built on state-owned land adjacent to the current facility.

On a motion by Commissioner Tim Blount, and a second by Commissioner Tracey Trivette, the board voted to endorse the project. Commissioners also plan to tour a prison facility in Scotland County that is similar to he one proposed for White Lake.

In other business, the town board passed the fiscal year 2003-2004 budget for the town of White Lake.

No tax increases or fee increases were included in the $1.711 million budget.

--30-