State outlines prison plans
April 24, 1999
BY MARK GUNDERMAN
THE CHIPPEWA HERALD
A geriatric prison facility at the
Northern Center's Highview building
would house 300 inmates of three
different types and provide jobs for
312 local people, according to plans
drawn up by the Department of
Corrections.
Plans are not yet final, State
Representative Tom Sykora (D-Chippewa
Falls) said on Friday, but the state
is providing more specifics on the
proposal in anticipation of
reconstruction of the Highview
building beginning as early as this
fall.
Sykora said the facility will be
designed to serve an all-male, medium
security population aged 50 and above
in three categories:
- Fragile, non-ambulatory elderly
requiring 24 hours of nursing care;
- Inmates with limited mobility
requiring assistance with some daily
living activities; and
- Able-bodied inmates with few medical
or nursing needs who would serve as
workers for the institution.
"Typically, what they want to do is
have services provided by some
inmates who are able to do these
activities," Sykora said.
The state now has 1,124 inmates that
would fit into the categories
eligible for the geriatric prison
here. "They're going to pick 300 to
come here," Sykora said. "They'll
pick the ones who most need care
first."
Sykora anticipates that the state
will use common sense in selecting
the able-bodied inmates to be used as
workers.
"They're not going to pick violent
inmates to come here because of the
fragile nature of the other inmates,"
Sykora said. "The idea is to get the
fragile population away from the
violent criminals."
The idea is also to create more
prison beds at low cost, and to save
threatened jobs at the Northern
Center, which has been downsizing.
It is uncertain how many of the 600
jobs at Northern Center can be saved
by the geriatric prison, which is
expected to employ 312.
"About 140 will end up as prison
guards and prison personnel. The
balance will be health care and
maintenance," Sykora said.
Some Northern Center workers are
already applying for retraining to
become geriatric prison workers, he
added. It appears that the Northern
Center will provide the food and
laundry service.
"It looks like it's firmed up enough
to say that," Sykora said.
Some health care workers will likely
be able to make the prison transfer,
as well as some maintenance and
grounds people.
Nevertheless, there should be no
illusions that the geriatric prison
will provide jobs for all 600 current
Northern Center workers as that
facility winds down as a center for
the developmentally disabled, Sykora
suggested.
Some former Northern Center workers
who have been laid off have been
contacted about training to be
recalled as prison workers, Sykora
said.
All of this depends on the Highview
building being converted for a
geriatric prison, and that is up to
the current budget process.
The cost is estimated at $6 million,
including $3.5 million for
construction and $1.1 million for
movable equipment, according to the
Department of Corrections.
Moving $300 prisoners there would
open up 300 beds at regular prison
facilities.
Sykora expects it to pass through the
budget process.
So is it a "done deal"?
"In my mind it is," Sykora said. "But
the Department of Administration can
still kill it," Sykora said.
One reason that might happen is in
case of significant local opposition.
Sykora has heard some opposition,
particularly from a vocal group in
the town of LaFayette. But he
describes the support as "20-to-1"
over the opposition.
He does expect that there will be the
promised public hearings, and perhaps
a referendum in Chippewa Falls and
other parts of the county.
The Department of Corrections has
tentatively planned for moving
prisoners to Highview in 2002, Sykora
said.
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