SOUTHERN ILLINOIS MAKES PITCHES FOR MORE PRISONS

ULLIN, Ill. -- A group that helped attract attention to Tamms for the new super-maximum-security prison hopes once again to convince the state to look at Southern Illinois for a new prison or two.

Illinois Department of Corrections Director Donald N. Snyder announced the state is seeking sites for a new $80 million prison for women and $34 million close-custody juvenile facility.

The Southernmost Illinois Prison Committee, known as SIPC, which worked to get the Tamms prison five years ago, hopes to bring one or both of the prisons to Southern Illinois.

"We'll be putting emphasis on the juvenile facility," said Don Denny, director of the Small Business Development Center and Office of Economic Development at Shawnee Community College near Ullin.

Denny, a member of the local prison committee, said the group will be looking at five or six sites and wants to have all the information for proposals in by July 23.

"We have to have the proposal to the Department of Corrections office July 31," he said.

A number of sites were proposed during a SIPC meeting hosted last week by Jerry Reppert, chairman of the group. Representatives of the five counties the committee serves -- Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Union and Johnson -- were at the meeting.

A couple of county groups from Mound City in Pulaski County and Metropolis in Massac County will be submitting their own proposals.

"Pulaski County is interested in a proposal for the women's prison," said Denny. "We'll be putting emphasis on the juvenile facility.

Snyder has indicated that communities in the northern part of the state would be given preference for the women's prison.

"Women are the fastest growing segment of the adult prison population," said Snyder. "More than 3,000 women are incarcerated in the prison system, representing more than 6 percent of the prison population."

Illinois has only one women's prison, at Dwight in the north. Another women's prison is expected to open soon at Decatur in the middle of the state. Meanwhile, female inmates are incarcerated at Kankakee, Dixon and Logan correctional centers.

"More than 70 percent of the incarcerated women come form Cook County and the collar counties, and almost 85 percent are mothers," said Snyder. "Locating the new women's prison in the north will better accommodate family visits."

As many as seven applications have been requested by Southern Illinois communities, and "some of these will submit applications for both prisons," said Brian Fairchild of the Department of Corrections.

Communities that have expressed interest in one or both of the facilities are Fairfield, Grayville, Metropolis, Mount Carmel and Mound City. Williamson County also has expressed interest.

The state needs 120 acres of relatively flat land with road access suitable for electricity, natural gas and water for the women's prison, which would employ up to 990 people and have an annual budget of $48 million.

The juvenile center can be constructed on 80 acres. It has similar road, gas, water and electricity requirements.

It would provide space for 188 high-risk youths, and a second phase would add 48 beds to a special treatment unit. The second phase construction costs could range from $9 million to $11 million.

The juvenile facility would employ aboaut 300, with an annual budget of $11.6 million

"We would like to see the facility in the southernmost area," said Denny. "A location in any one of the lower five counties will help the entire region.:

A number of the sites being offered were available when bids were taken for two prisons in 1997, but they were built elsewhere.

A $45 million juvenile center that will house 400 youths and provide up to 280 jobs was awarded to Kewanee in northwest Illinois, and a $69 million, 1,800-bed medium-security adult prison that will provide up to 450 jobs was awarded to Lawrence County, which borders the Ohio River in Southeast Illinois.

Proposed sites

Sites being made available for a women's prison and, or juvenile detention center in Southern Illinois:

-- Alexander County, near and adjoining Cairo Airport.

-- Union County, on surplus property of Choate Mental Health Center.

-- Johnson County, on property owned by the Department of Corrections near the Vienna and Shawnee corrections facilities.

-- Massac County, in the Industrial Park at Metropolis.

-- Pulaski County, near Interstate 57 between Ullin and Pulaski.