SOUTHERN ILLINOIS GROUP OFFERS FREE LAND, SEWERS FOR NEW PRISON

INA, Ill. - The Southern Illinois Prison Committee (SIPC) offered two years free water and sewage, and most communities promised free land, hoping to attract a $60 million super-maximum prison last week.

Thirty-one communities made pitches at three public hearings last week, with 11 Southern Illinois areas making presentations to the Illinois Department of Corrections during a meeting at Rend Lake Community College Thursday.

Gov. Jim Edgar said a proposed super maximum-security prison probably won't go to a town that already houses a state prison.

That could rule out Canton and Pontiac, two central Illinois cities currently competing for the facility.

Edgar, speaking at a news conference Friday in Bloomington, said he is leaning toward locating the prison in a town where few state-supported facilities are located.

Earlier in the week, regional hearings were conducted at Canton and Springfield with officials hearing offers of free land, utility hookups and other incentives.

Department of Corrections director Howard Peters said his staff would look over the presentations and likely announced a list of finalists by the middle of next week. Peters has indicated he wants to make final recommendations to Gov. Jim Edgar by Oct. 15.

The community that wins the prison will be home to 500 of the state's most violent inmates and gain 300 jobs with an $11 million payroll.

During the latest hearing Thursday, SIPC, part of a five-county Union, Alexander, Pulaski, Massac and Johnson - coalition that includes some of the poorest areas in the state, promised to buy 80 acres of land and supply it with free water and sewage for two years.

More than 75 supporters from the SIPC group jammed the Rend Lake College Auditorium, wearing bright orange name tags and holding signs touting the group's proposal.

The SIPC group also proposed a $1 million loan pool to help transferred employees buy homes.

The combined unemployment in the SIPC's five-county area is more than 14 percent.

DuQuoin made a pitch for a $60 million super-maximum security prison, saying Perry County could sorely use the new jobs the prison could bring.

"If there's any place that needs employment, it's Perry County," DuQuoin Mayor John Rednour told Department of Corrections Director Howard Peters and other officials.

Rednour, flanked by state Sen. Ralph Dunn and state Rep. Gerald Hawkins, said a 280-acre site is available for the prison on the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, near a corrections work camp.

Alorton city planner Wallace Carson suggested a 123-acre site in his town for the prison.

Carson was asked why he had not taken a public opinion poll on the prison prior to the hearing, but said he wants to wait until his community is selected as a finalist before seeking support.

"Political leaders nowadays are reluctant to raise expectations up, only to see them fall," Carson said.

The Southern Illinois presentations focused on economic problems in the region, including the fact that nearly 3,000 coal miners have been on strike since early summer. Also, 10 of the 11 counties with the highest unemployment rate for August were from Southern Illinois.

In addition to Alorton and Du Quoin, the town of Marissa and the counties of Franklin, Jackson, Lawrence, Randolph, Saline, Union, Wayne-White and Williamson were vying for the prison.

The prison will handle 500 of the state's most dangerous inmates. The goal is to reduce disruptions at the state's 24 other prisons, where about 33,500 inmates are being held in prisons designed for 22,500.

As many as six finalists will be chosen from the applicants. The department then will hold hearings in those communities and could recommend a site by Oct. 15.