PRISON PROSPERITY

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- The new cells of the maximum-security Southeast Correctional Center are expected to bring happiness to many people.

That is, to the people of Mississippi County, through a much anticipated economic boom stemming from the 430-plus jobs created by the $70 million prison, scheduled to open this fall.

Charleston, the county seat and site of the prison, already is experiencing an economic rejuvenation because of the facility, now under construction off Interstate 57. A Sonic fast food franchise has returned. The local supermarket has expanded its facility by a third. The lumber company and concrete plant are filling large orders from contractors building the prison. And developers are breaking ground on and filing zoning applications for new subdivisions, the first step in building 100 to 150 new residences anticipated for the influx of workers.

"It's the biggest thing that's ever happened in Mississippi County," said City Manager David Brewer. "Those jobs are going to be here from now on. These are not going to be like manufacturing jobs that will move to Mexico or Brazil."

It's a needed turnaround, said Brewer, for a town that had economically bottomed out in 1998 with the departure of two major employers. Between the closings of two Brown Shoe Co. facilities and a De-Sta-Co manufacturing plant, which produced car components, over 650 local jobs were lost in the last decade -- a significant hit for a town with a population of 5,000.

"We were in a hell of a mess," Brewer said.

It's been a similar story for the rest of Mississippi County. An unemployment rate in excess of 10 percent has sent residents fleeing for greener pastures. The 1940 census listed 20,000 people living in Mississippi County. The 2000 census is expected to list under 14,000 -- a loss of at least 30 percent of the county population in 60 years.

Considering the options

In 1996, Charleston city fathers, led by a former Missouri first lady, began examining their options. They needed an industry that would come in, stay forever, and draw a large number of workers from a relatively untrained labor pool.

"We were chasing everything we could find," said Brewer. But Charleston was striking out in attracting businesses, often because it lacked railroads to go along with its good highway and river access.

Then, while attending Gov. Mel Carnahan's inauguration in Jan. 1997, Betty Hearnes, president of the Mississippi County Industrial Development Authority and wife of former Gov. Warren Hearnes, learned the state had authorized the construction of two new prisons. The state Department of Corrections was looking for building sites for the facilities.

"I made up my mind right then and there we were going to try for one of them," said Hearnes, also a former state representative.

It was a sound business move. In the last seven years, the Missouri prison population has jumped about 44 percent to currently about 27,000 inmates in state custody.

The former state first lady said she checked with Carnahan to see if the two prisons had already been unofficially promised to any towns. Carnahan told her they had not.

"He said, 'The best towns with the best plans is where we're going to build them,'" Hearnes said. "So we just kept pushing and pushing and visiting and calling."

Licking, Mo., a town of about 1,400 residents, won the other prison, the South Central Correctional Facility, which opened last June. As of this week, the South Central prison holds about 1,200 of its 1,596-inmate capacity.

Landing Southeast Correction Center is clearly a source of pride among Charleston city administrators -- evidenced by the blueprints and artists' renderings of the complex displayed throughout City Hall.

In the corner of Brewer's office lies the silver shovel used in the prison's February 2000 groundbreaking.

Part of that pride lies in the knowledge that money will be coming into Mississippi County in the form of a $9.1 million annual payroll.

A mid-level typist at Southeast Correctional Center will begin at about $15,528 per year. An advanced typist will begin at $17,268, a maintenance supervisor at $22,116, and the corrections superintendent will begin at $38,796. A novice corrections officer, of which the prison needs 252, will begin at $19,080.

Community views

But the prison does not have unconditional support throughout the area.

Although Debbie McMikle, owner of the Charleston Florist, said she has seen an increase in sales because of the prison construction and hopes more prosperity will follow, she knows not all her neighbors are optimistic.

"It's a controversial subject here in our small community," she said. "But I'm hopeful that it will be positive for our community. I think we could certainly use some growth.

"We do have construction workers picking up flowers for their wives. It's been a slight increase in business."

Sharon Rowling, daughter of the owner and an employee of Reeves Boomland gas station and restaurant in Charleston, said the economic benefits of the prison outweigh the negatives of acquiring 1,596 maximum-security neighbors. Boomland sits less than a mile from the new prison.

"I just feel like in our area, we need something to give us a boost," Rowling said. "Some of the construction employees are already eating lunch here. We expect a lot more activity at this exit."

But while some residents and the city followers are excited about the prison, the concrete cells of Southeast Correctional Center clearly aren't going to be a source of happiness for the prisoners.

The 8-by-12-foot rooms each have one sink, one polished-metal mirror, one slit window, one florescent light, and one lidless, push-button toilet -- all to be shared by two inmates per cell.

The five centralized maximum-security cell pods can each hold 288 inmates in 144 cells in four, two-tiered wings. A central control bubble in each of these five units offers guards a view down each of the wings.

Imagining life in one of the cold, barren cells is a sobering thought, said construction administrator Vail Kinsaul.

"It's weird. You start putting the cells together and you think, two people to a cell, man," he said. "I've had a long time to think what it would be like if I was in here. I think the thing that would bother me the worst is the people I'd be in here with. One wing, you're talking about 150 people in one area. You open up the doors and everybody files out into the dayroom."

Kinsaul tours the construction site daily, dodging between the spools of wire and stacks of pipe, troubleshooting, supplying measurements that the blueprints omitted, and making sure the state is getting the prison it paid for.

On the outside

A central outdoor control tower offers guards a view of nearly the entire 40-acre complex -- the housing units, the central services building, the administration building, and the eight outdoor basketball courts and two baseball fields.

Beyond the perimeter -- the three 7,500-foot circuits of fence, including one that is electrically charged, and the five 7,500-foot circuits of razor wire -- lies the prison power plant and the vehicle maintenance facility.

Farther out, beyond the prison grounds, lie agricultural fields and several commercial parks that include two trucking companies.

While the prison's full effect on business in Mississippi County remains to be seen, it is certain that business for the Missouri corrections industry is good, and shows no signs of slackening. Five new prisons have been or are being built in the state in the last two years.

Since 1998, in addition to the Charleston and Licking facilities, the Northeast Correctional Center was built in Bowling Green; the all-female Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center was built in Vandalia; and the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center is being built in Bonne Terre is slated to open this year, reported Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman John Fougere.

"In the past year, we've had a pretty significant increase in the amount of inmates coming in," said Fougere. "So, to insure there's a safe and secure bed that every inmate has to have by law, we have to build more prisons."