softheart
06-23-2003, 11:07 AM
2003-06-22
By Ron Jackson
The Oklahoman
SAYRE -- The immediate future looks bleak for Sayre's North Fork private
prison, scheduled to close in two months over inmate phone rates.
Insiders say it's too late to work out a deal for the prison owner to
keep its inmates there, and the state of Oklahoma doesn't have the money
to buy the prison.
Meanwhile, the city is stuck in a five-year contract for inmate phone
calls it made with AT&T, even if the prison owner, Corrections
Corporation of America, moves inmates to Sayre from another state.
"This is very devastating," said Rick Moody, a captain at the prison.
"We're just hoping and praying something is done."
The prison, filled exclusively with Wisconsin inmates, is the city's
biggest employer. The inmates' telephone calls generate funding for the
city, and the prison paid $449,000 in property taxes to the county in 2002.
Sayre negotiated for the prison's telephone rights six years ago and
remains locked in a contract with AT&T that ends in November 2004. Under
the agreement, Sayre received a monthly commission on revenue collected
by AT&T on collect calls made by inmates. City records show those
monthly commission checks have ranged from $15,000 to $92,000 in the
past year.
The problem came in November, when Wisconsin renewed its contract to
keep 989 inmates at the prison. Wisconsin law prohibits prisons from
charging inmates more than $1.25 for a call connection fee plus 22 cents
for each minute. But AT&T and Sayre had agreed to a connection charge of
$3.95 and 89 cents per minute -- rates that far exceed the Wisconsin cap.
Now the city is stuck wit! h the five-year telephone contract.
By Aug. 11, the prison's 989 inmates -- all contracted with the state of
Wisconsin -- are scheduled for transfer to Corrections Corporation's
2,160-bed medium security Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga.
"We haven't given up hope," said Larry Kirkland, a North Fork prison
spokesman. "We are pursuing other avenues to receive other inmates. As
long as there's time, we're not going to give up hope."
But the transfer of inmates appears to be ahead of schedule.
"I spoke with (North Fork) Warden Jody Bradley recently," said state
Sen. Gilmer Capps, D- Snyder. "He assured me that the Wisconsin inmates
were gone."
Capps since has turned to Ron Ward, director of the Oklahoma Corrections
Department, for assistance.
"I asked him if he had any inmates he could move to Sayre, but he hasn't
been able to find the numbers," Capps said. "I hate to see us lose those
employees."
A! s for any possible attempt by the state to purchase North Fork, Capps
said not to count on it, given Oklahoma's sluggish economy.
"I don't think the state is interested at this time," Capps said.
State corrections spokesman Jerry Massie cut to the heart of the matter:
"We're about $20 million short as it is right now."
Corrections Corporation of America spent $34.5 million to build the
prison in 1998. Its market value now, according to county tax rolls, is
$42.7 million, Beckham County Assessor Loretta Hill said.
Sayre Mayor Jack Ivester thinks about the 225 jobs' reported $6 million
annual payroll that will vanish with the closure and wonders whether the
situation can be salvaged, even at this late date.
"All I know is the city is going to pursue every option available to us
to try to save the prison," he said.
He said he talks to Corrections Corporation representatives every day
and has been trying to set up a meet! ing. But so far, no date has been
finalized.
An obvious hurdle for Sayre is its contract with AT&T. The contract does
not have a buyout clause or a penalty specified for breaking it. AT&T
offered to let Sayre get out of its contract for $850,000, city Attorney
Kent Whinery said. He said the city can't afford that much.
"The city council is going to have to make some tough decisions,"
Whinery said in regard to a potential buyout.
AT&T would not discuss whether the company offered to lower its charges
for inmate telephone calls.
Company spokesman Kerry Hibbs said he couldn't go into details because
the negotiations are private.
Meanwhile, the scramble for inmates looks grim. Forty-one of 50 states
showed an increase in prison populations between July 1, 2001, and June
30, 2002, according to recent figures by the U.S. Justice Department's
Bureau of Justice Statistics. But, as in Oklahoma, money is tight inother states.
"The inmates are out there," said a prison official who asked to remain
anonymous. "But who has the money?"
Steve Owen, a Corrections Corporation of America spokesman, said
eventually a customer will be located and North Fork will reopen.
"We're eager to put people back to work there," Owen said.
State Rep. Purcy Walker, D- Elk City, said he hopes so.
"It's a nice facility," Walker said.
"I can't see where CCA would be satisfied with just a little more than
four years of use out there to the point where they would be willing to
just move off and leave it. I would find that hard to believe.
"They say they will come back. I guess we'll just have to take their word."
By Ron Jackson
The Oklahoman
SAYRE -- The immediate future looks bleak for Sayre's North Fork private
prison, scheduled to close in two months over inmate phone rates.
Insiders say it's too late to work out a deal for the prison owner to
keep its inmates there, and the state of Oklahoma doesn't have the money
to buy the prison.
Meanwhile, the city is stuck in a five-year contract for inmate phone
calls it made with AT&T, even if the prison owner, Corrections
Corporation of America, moves inmates to Sayre from another state.
"This is very devastating," said Rick Moody, a captain at the prison.
"We're just hoping and praying something is done."
The prison, filled exclusively with Wisconsin inmates, is the city's
biggest employer. The inmates' telephone calls generate funding for the
city, and the prison paid $449,000 in property taxes to the county in 2002.
Sayre negotiated for the prison's telephone rights six years ago and
remains locked in a contract with AT&T that ends in November 2004. Under
the agreement, Sayre received a monthly commission on revenue collected
by AT&T on collect calls made by inmates. City records show those
monthly commission checks have ranged from $15,000 to $92,000 in the
past year.
The problem came in November, when Wisconsin renewed its contract to
keep 989 inmates at the prison. Wisconsin law prohibits prisons from
charging inmates more than $1.25 for a call connection fee plus 22 cents
for each minute. But AT&T and Sayre had agreed to a connection charge of
$3.95 and 89 cents per minute -- rates that far exceed the Wisconsin cap.
Now the city is stuck wit! h the five-year telephone contract.
By Aug. 11, the prison's 989 inmates -- all contracted with the state of
Wisconsin -- are scheduled for transfer to Corrections Corporation's
2,160-bed medium security Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga.
"We haven't given up hope," said Larry Kirkland, a North Fork prison
spokesman. "We are pursuing other avenues to receive other inmates. As
long as there's time, we're not going to give up hope."
But the transfer of inmates appears to be ahead of schedule.
"I spoke with (North Fork) Warden Jody Bradley recently," said state
Sen. Gilmer Capps, D- Snyder. "He assured me that the Wisconsin inmates
were gone."
Capps since has turned to Ron Ward, director of the Oklahoma Corrections
Department, for assistance.
"I asked him if he had any inmates he could move to Sayre, but he hasn't
been able to find the numbers," Capps said. "I hate to see us lose those
employees."
A! s for any possible attempt by the state to purchase North Fork, Capps
said not to count on it, given Oklahoma's sluggish economy.
"I don't think the state is interested at this time," Capps said.
State corrections spokesman Jerry Massie cut to the heart of the matter:
"We're about $20 million short as it is right now."
Corrections Corporation of America spent $34.5 million to build the
prison in 1998. Its market value now, according to county tax rolls, is
$42.7 million, Beckham County Assessor Loretta Hill said.
Sayre Mayor Jack Ivester thinks about the 225 jobs' reported $6 million
annual payroll that will vanish with the closure and wonders whether the
situation can be salvaged, even at this late date.
"All I know is the city is going to pursue every option available to us
to try to save the prison," he said.
He said he talks to Corrections Corporation representatives every day
and has been trying to set up a meet! ing. But so far, no date has been
finalized.
An obvious hurdle for Sayre is its contract with AT&T. The contract does
not have a buyout clause or a penalty specified for breaking it. AT&T
offered to let Sayre get out of its contract for $850,000, city Attorney
Kent Whinery said. He said the city can't afford that much.
"The city council is going to have to make some tough decisions,"
Whinery said in regard to a potential buyout.
AT&T would not discuss whether the company offered to lower its charges
for inmate telephone calls.
Company spokesman Kerry Hibbs said he couldn't go into details because
the negotiations are private.
Meanwhile, the scramble for inmates looks grim. Forty-one of 50 states
showed an increase in prison populations between July 1, 2001, and June
30, 2002, according to recent figures by the U.S. Justice Department's
Bureau of Justice Statistics. But, as in Oklahoma, money is tight inother states.
"The inmates are out there," said a prison official who asked to remain
anonymous. "But who has the money?"
Steve Owen, a Corrections Corporation of America spokesman, said
eventually a customer will be located and North Fork will reopen.
"We're eager to put people back to work there," Owen said.
State Rep. Purcy Walker, D- Elk City, said he hopes so.
"It's a nice facility," Walker said.
"I can't see where CCA would be satisfied with just a little more than
four years of use out there to the point where they would be willing to
just move off and leave it. I would find that hard to believe.
"They say they will come back. I guess we'll just have to take their word."