Years ago, state governments offered to build prisons in rural communities, where they would provide jobs and tax revenue. Now, tight budgets and moves to jail fewer nonviolent offenders are causing states to close dozens of prisons. The U.S. prison population in 2010 was 1.6 million, lowest in four decades. At least 13 states closed prisons, reports Justin Jouvenal of The Washington Post.
When the Mecklenburg Correctional Center near Boydton, Va. (Wikipedia map), closes, the town will lose 20 percent of its revenue and 300 jobs. Officials said they'll have to lay off most of the town's workers, triple water rates and reduce trash pickup. They said if the state doesn't help, the town could go bankrupt and be dissolved. The prison is the town's fifth largest employer and pays it $240,000 a year for sewer service. The facility became more important to the town when its manufacturing and tobacco economies faded. Other towns actively sought prison jobs that were thought "recession proof," and many rebuilt themselves around that idea, the Post reports. Jouvenal writes, "Boydton's bicentennial could turn into its wake." (Read more)
Rick Stone of the Miami Herald reports on the closure of a prison that was "the region's primary employer and economic engine" in Monticello, Fla. Read or listen here.
When the Mecklenburg Correctional Center near Boydton, Va. (Wikipedia map), closes, the town will lose 20 percent of its revenue and 300 jobs. Officials said they'll have to lay off most of the town's workers, triple water rates and reduce trash pickup. They said if the state doesn't help, the town could go bankrupt and be dissolved. The prison is the town's fifth largest employer and pays it $240,000 a year for sewer service. The facility became more important to the town when its manufacturing and tobacco economies faded. Other towns actively sought prison jobs that were thought "recession proof," and many rebuilt themselves around that idea, the Post reports. Jouvenal writes, "Boydton's bicentennial could turn into its wake." (Read more)Rick Stone of the Miami Herald reports on the closure of a prison that was "the region's primary employer and economic engine" in Monticello, Fla. Read or listen here.
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