EDGAR TAPS SOUTHERN TOWN FOR NEW PRISON

PINCKNEYVILLE, Ill. -- Pinckneyville will be the site for a new 950-cell medium security prison in Southern Illinois.

"We're excited," said Kirwan Heisner, mayor of this small community of about 3,400 people. "We've had a depressed economy over the past few years, with our unemployment rate running between 12 and 15 percent."

Heisner said the 450 jobs that the new prison will bring will "add a lot to Pinckneyville, Perry County and Southern Illinois."

The area will start to feel the effects as early as next spring.

"They'll be breaking ground in April, and that will bring 250 construction jobs to the area," said Heisner.

Nic Howell, public affairs spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said the new prison is expected to open early in 1998.

"We expect a construction period of 18 to 24 months," he said.

Pinckneyville received the news that it had been selected for the 1,800-bed, $65 million state prison earlier this week.

Gov. Jim Edgar announced the decision.

It was a difficult decision, Edgar said. The governor applauded every community that competed for the prison.

Edgar reached his decision after consulting with the Department of Corrections, which closely reviewed all applications and held public hearings in the communities.

Pinckneyville, which offered 100 acres of land and a $6 million incentive package, was selected from an original field of 34 communities. The field was narrowed to five -- Decatur, Savanna, Marshall, White County and Pinckneyville -- earlier this month.

"Pinckneyville is located in a county that has the highest unemployment rate and the most number of residents below the poverty level among the counties in which the five finalists were located," said Edgar.

Perry County lost nearly 500 coal mining jobs between 1990 and 1994.

The city already has obtained an option on property about a half mile from an elementary school on Illinois Route 154. The city is negotiating to buy another 230 acres from Consolidation Coal Co. to make a bigger buffer zone around the prison.

The governor added that the site is convenient when it comes to transporting prisoners between facilities and sharing resources with other state penal institutions.

Howell said one of the conditions in choosing the site was that the host community wanted the prison.

"We certainly didn't want to put the prison in an area where it wasn't wanted," said Howell. "On the other side of that coin, we have never placed a prison where there has been 100 percent support."

"The majority of people here want the prison and the jobs it will bring," said Mayor Heisner. "Naturally, you'll find a few people that are hesitant about locating a prison in their area."

Once completed, the prison will employ about 400 people and have an estimated $20 million annual budget.

"Any time you can bring in that many full-time jobs and a $20 million annual payroll, it's a plus," said Heisner.

Tom Denton, Pinckneyville's economic development director and chief of police, said the prison will be a good fit for "our other economic development and expansion."

A private contractor will build the prison to state specifications and will lease the prison to the state for 20 years. At the end of the period, the state will own the prison.

The Pinckneyville prison is the second large prison announced for Southern Illinois in the past two years.

Construction is under way on a super-maximum security prison project at Tamms.

The Tamms prison is expected to open in 1997, and will house more than 500 of the state's most violent inmates, say prison officials.

Tamms, a community of about 750 people in Alexander County, was selected from more than 30 towns for that project.

A work camp was constructed at the super-max site during the past year. It opened last spring.

The super-max is expected to cost more than $60 million to build and will employ up to 250 people during its two-year construction phase. It is expected to employ 385 people and provide a $17.5 million-a-year payroll when it opens.