Newspaper article about the Chippewa Falls Prison

Prison plans moving too fast, officials say

Council wants chance to analyze impact

By Janean Marti Chippewa Falls News Bureau

May 19, 19998

CHIPPEWA FALLS - City officials want to control the location and development of a state-proposed special-needs prison, but the state Legislature will have the final say.

Despite the council's efforts, some residents say the project is already under way and seems unstoppable.

The City Council is trying to force the Department of Corrections to apply for a special-use permit before going ahead with plans to establish a 300-bed facility in a remodeled building at the Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled.

The legislative Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to consider a budget proposal in the next few weeks that would provide about $7.3 million to remodel the Highview Building for use as a special needs prison.

Special needs inmates generally are defined as those 50 or over who have extraordinary medical needs. The prison also would house about 23 inmates who have no special medical needs but who would perform some of the duties normally assigned to inmates at other prisons.

The council passed a resolution Tuesday night asking the DOC to answer specific questions about the project as part of acquiring a special use permit.

But state law allows legislators to bypass zoning and other municipal requirements by exempting prisons from local zoning codes.

"We will have public hearings, I assure you, and a referendum if the public wants it," Mayor Virginia Smith told about 20 prison opponents who attended the meeting. "Right now, we don't have enough information to make a decision, (but) I take Gov. Thompson at his word. They will not put in a prison if a community is against it. That would be political suicide."

Smith said the city has not received any specific details from the DOC on the project.

The council's resolution seeks a preliminary site plan, the maximum number of beds sought, a definition of "geriatric prison," and estimates of the number of new jobs, the number of existing jobs that would be retained and future expansion plans.

City Attorney Paul Gordon said after the meeting he understands remodeling already is under way at Highview.

"The fourth floor at Highview is being remodeled," and the developmentally disabled clients who were living there have been moved to other buildings at the center, said Gordon, who visits the center every week.

Gordon, a Democrat, has campaigned unsuccessfully twice for the state senate seat held by Dave Zien, R-Chippewa Falls, and Gordon's wife, Chris, was one of the organizers of a petition drive against the prison that has collected more than 400 signatures.

Opponents said area legislators originally described the prison as a facility for bedridden inmates over 70, but the plans gradually have included younger, ambulatory prisoners.

"We feel there has been a real lack of communication regarding this prison," Chris Gordon said.

Legislators have not tried hard enough to keep the Northern Center open or find other uses for the site, she said.

Residents also expressed concern the prison could be expanded in the future.

"Everyone knows prisons are overcrowded. If they don't have enough geriatric prisoners, they'll probably ship in other prisoners from overcrowded ones," said Frank Bodeen, a Chippewa Falls resident.

State Rep. Tom Sykora said this week that lawmakers can't predict the future, but the jobs are too important to give up the project.

A special-needs prison would create about 312 jobs, Sykora said, but few of those would go to current center employees.

Marti can be reached at 723-0303.


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