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08-04-2003, 09:05 PM
Residents Welcome New Prison
By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
MALVERN — It may not be the type of economic shot in the arm that every community would relish, but the city known as the “brick capital of the world” couldn’t be happier.
That’s because Malvern, home of Acme Brick Co., is also home to Arkansas’ newest state prison.
In this city of 9,000, county seat of Hot Spring County, plant closings and the downsizing of other businesses have left an unemployment rate of 7.7 percent, well above the state average of 5.5 percent. The average weekly wage in the county is a $494, about $25,700 annually, about $2,000 below the state average.
City and county officials believe the new prison will help jump start the stagnant economy, and energize the area.
“Anytime you can get a permanent government installation it has a steady economic impact,” said Rep. Bill Scrimshire, D-Malvern.
How much?
It will mean an economic impact of about $27 million annually for the county, said Hot Spring County Judge James A. Bailey. That’s the amount the late Frank White, state banking commissioner at the time of his death, said the new prison would bring into the economy in 1998 during a speech at a chamber banquet.
“That was a staggering figure as far as I was concerned, but the fact that Frank was head of the bankers, I guess he had more access to figures than we people in Hot Spring County did,” Bailey said.
Phase one of the Ouachita River Correctional Unit, 316 beds, opened last week and 110 employees, 50 from the surrounding community, have been hired to work there. The remaining 60 employees transferred from other state prisons.
When the next two phases are completed over the next two years, the new Ouachita River Correctional Unit will house 948 medium security inmates and there will be as many as 300 employees working at the facility.
Starting salaries for entry level correctional officers are about $23,000 annually.
The new jobs and economic spin-off created by the new prison should really help the economy, Bailey said.
“One of our main objectives is to try and get more jobs into the area,” he said. “We want to improve our tax base.”
Bailey and other officials said other cities, including Newport, that have landed state prisons have noticed significant improvements to their economies.
The official grand opening of the first phase of the Ouachita River Correctional Unit will be Friday, and Gov. Mike Huckabee is scheduled to attend. At the same time, a ground-breaking is scheduled for the new 300-bed Technical Parole Violators Program Unit for the state Department of Community Correction. That building will be built next to the Ouachita River Correctional Unit.
Both construction projects will be done with inmate labor, said state prison spokeswoman Dina Tyler.
Along with the new jobs and money the two facilities are expected to pump into the economy, the city and county also expect to receive additional state turnback money because they can claim the inmates when calculating their population, said Rosemary Darrow, manager of the Hot Spring County and Malvern Chamber of Commerce.
And there is talk that a state prison-run nursing home for the many older inmates in the prison population, also is being considered on the 80-acre site off Highway 67 in Malvern.
“This is good for our community,” Darrow said.
Newport Mayor David Stewart said last week that Malvern officials can expect to see economic benefits related to the prison.
In 1998, a women’s prison and a men’s prison opened in Newport, a small east Arkansas town in Jackson County.
“Those two prisons are definitely a benefit to our community,” Stewart said, said the prisons have brought more people into the community along with good jobs.
“They have had substantial financial impact in this community,” Stewart said.
By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
MALVERN — It may not be the type of economic shot in the arm that every community would relish, but the city known as the “brick capital of the world” couldn’t be happier.
That’s because Malvern, home of Acme Brick Co., is also home to Arkansas’ newest state prison.
In this city of 9,000, county seat of Hot Spring County, plant closings and the downsizing of other businesses have left an unemployment rate of 7.7 percent, well above the state average of 5.5 percent. The average weekly wage in the county is a $494, about $25,700 annually, about $2,000 below the state average.
City and county officials believe the new prison will help jump start the stagnant economy, and energize the area.
“Anytime you can get a permanent government installation it has a steady economic impact,” said Rep. Bill Scrimshire, D-Malvern.
How much?
It will mean an economic impact of about $27 million annually for the county, said Hot Spring County Judge James A. Bailey. That’s the amount the late Frank White, state banking commissioner at the time of his death, said the new prison would bring into the economy in 1998 during a speech at a chamber banquet.
“That was a staggering figure as far as I was concerned, but the fact that Frank was head of the bankers, I guess he had more access to figures than we people in Hot Spring County did,” Bailey said.
Phase one of the Ouachita River Correctional Unit, 316 beds, opened last week and 110 employees, 50 from the surrounding community, have been hired to work there. The remaining 60 employees transferred from other state prisons.
When the next two phases are completed over the next two years, the new Ouachita River Correctional Unit will house 948 medium security inmates and there will be as many as 300 employees working at the facility.
Starting salaries for entry level correctional officers are about $23,000 annually.
The new jobs and economic spin-off created by the new prison should really help the economy, Bailey said.
“One of our main objectives is to try and get more jobs into the area,” he said. “We want to improve our tax base.”
Bailey and other officials said other cities, including Newport, that have landed state prisons have noticed significant improvements to their economies.
The official grand opening of the first phase of the Ouachita River Correctional Unit will be Friday, and Gov. Mike Huckabee is scheduled to attend. At the same time, a ground-breaking is scheduled for the new 300-bed Technical Parole Violators Program Unit for the state Department of Community Correction. That building will be built next to the Ouachita River Correctional Unit.
Both construction projects will be done with inmate labor, said state prison spokeswoman Dina Tyler.
Along with the new jobs and money the two facilities are expected to pump into the economy, the city and county also expect to receive additional state turnback money because they can claim the inmates when calculating their population, said Rosemary Darrow, manager of the Hot Spring County and Malvern Chamber of Commerce.
And there is talk that a state prison-run nursing home for the many older inmates in the prison population, also is being considered on the 80-acre site off Highway 67 in Malvern.
“This is good for our community,” Darrow said.
Newport Mayor David Stewart said last week that Malvern officials can expect to see economic benefits related to the prison.
In 1998, a women’s prison and a men’s prison opened in Newport, a small east Arkansas town in Jackson County.
“Those two prisons are definitely a benefit to our community,” Stewart said, said the prisons have brought more people into the community along with good jobs.
“They have had substantial financial impact in this community,” Stewart said.