PRISON WORK CAMP NEAR TAMMS MAY OPEN EARLY

TAMMS, Ill. -- A 200-bed prison work camp will open here a year before the $60 million, 500-bed super-maximum-security prison, which is expected to open in mid-1996.

Gov. Jim Edgar visited this small southern Illinois community of 740 earlier this week to announce that the prison work camp will open in April 1995 because of an expedited construction schedule.

Edgar told village officials that bids for construction of the work camp are expected to be awarded in April, with construction to get under way in May.

The camp, which will be adjacent to the super max prison, will cost about $5 million to build, and will house minimum-security inmates who will provide support services for the super-maximum-security prison.

The camp will consist of five buildings totaling about 60,000 square feet, including two residential units housing 100 inmates each.

"The area will benefit from employment of 95 people to staff the work camp and prepare for the new prison," said Edgar during his visit.

Edgar announced on Oct. 22 that Tamms will be the site of the 600-bed prison to house the state's most violent offenders, with an expected opening date of early-to-mid 1996.

The prison will create 300 permanent jobs, with at least 200 of them being new hires.

Plans were announced for the camp Oct. 22. Inmates will work in dietary services, laundry, maintenance and groundskeeping.

Cost of the work camp already was factored into the $60 million price of the prison, said Department of Corrections spokesman Nic Howell.

The new prison facility and work camp will be at a site two miles northeast of Tamms.

The site, one of 30 possibilities for the prison, was recommended by Corrections Department Director Howard Peters III following visits to the five final sites. Construction of the prison facility is also expected to start in late spring 1994

Prison construction is expected to employ up to 250 people during its two-year construction. When completed, it will provide an $11-million-a-year payroll.

Considerations considered during the site selection process included topography, easements, flood plain, environmental concerns, unemployment, poverty, minority population, number of state employees, roads and medical facilities, said Peters.

Tamms officials say jobs the prison would bring could help ease tough economic times. Many towns in Southern Illinois suffer from double-digit unemployment and suffered even further damage because of Mississippi River flooding this year.

Edgar said technical issues and economic development were primary factors considered in choosing the prison site.

"This site comes out first in both those areas," he said in October. "There were no politics involved."

Alexander County has a poverty rate of 32.2 percent, showed the 1990 census. Nearly 3,400 of the county's 10,626 residents live below the federal poverty standard. The county ranked 139th in the nation in terms of poverty, showed the census. The latest unemployment figures show the county with 18 percent unemployment.

Peters said Tamms was the best site because it can easily be prepared for construction and local officials were donating land and utility connections. The area also is racially diverse, he said, which could curtail resistance to the prison.

The site is 80 acres alongside a bluff. The landowners have agreed to give Tamms an option on 150 acres at $1,000 an acre.

The village will buy 80 acres outright and have an option on the additional 170 acres, if needed.