“We really need it in the county really bad.” —Grayson County, VA

Is Lowndes County in such bad shape that we, too, want a private prison, no matter that there’s no business case for it? Or should we learn from one bad business bet and not double down on another?

Susan Kinzie wrote in the Washington Post 30 May 2011, New Virginia prison sits empty, at a cost of more than $700,000 a year

This is how bad the economy is in southwestern Virginia: People are wishing they had more criminals in town.

That’s because Grayson County has a brand-new state prison standing empty. No prisoners. And that means no guards, no administrators, no staff, no jobs.

“I wish they would go ahead and open it up,” said Rhonda James of Mouth of Wilson, echoing many residents there. “We really need it in the county really bad.”

Three hundred new jobs — maybe 350 — that’s what people were told when the prison was planned. With about 11 percent unemployment and no relief in sight, that sounded really good to an awful lot of people here.

But months after the commonwealth finished building the 1,024-bed medium-security prison for $105 million, it remains empty, coils of razor wire and red roofs shining in the sun, new parking lot all but deserted and a yawning warehouse waiting for supplies.

And it’s costing more than $700,000 a year to maintain.

Meanwhile, the story continued, Virginia has closed 10 prisons due to budget shortfalls and lack of prisoners. And it’s not just Virginia:
“Recent forecasts across the country have flattened for adults and juveniles, both state and local populations,” Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said in an e-mail.

In Virginia, he said, “crime rates and most arrest rates are down, even for violent and heavier drug crimes, which are primary drivers of the forecast.”

Crime is not up. State spending is down. Buying into a prison is a bad business gamble.

According to Col. Ricketts as quoted by the VDT, the Industrial Authority just spent $115,000 on a bad deal that never happened. Want to try for $700,000 a year?

Or how about we don’t build a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia. Spend that tax money on education instead.

-jsq