Senator Rabon Wants New Prison For 2,400 Inmates

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Sen. Jeff Rabon on Thursday said he favors construction of a new prison in his district that would house 2,500 inmates. <br/><br/>Rabon, D-Hugo, said 5,200 acres occupied by the Howard

Thursday, August 16th 2007, 8:00 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Sen. Jeff Rabon on Thursday said he favors construction of a new prison in his district that would house 2,500 inmates.

Rabon, D-Hugo, said 5,200 acres occupied by the Howard McLeod Correctional Center in Atoka would serve as the location for the proposed facility, with construction costs estimated at nearly $170 million.

``The construction of a new facility would ultimately save the state money by reducing the amount we spend on private prisons,'' the senator said.

Meanwhile, Senate Co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, said it is premature to make a judgment on building a new prison.

Rabon said a comparison between the amount spent annually on private prisons and the estimated cost of debt service on bonds to fund the construction of the facility suggests the state would save money by proceeding with the project.

He said a forthcoming audit of the Department of Corrections should provide the Legislature with additional information that will help address the agency's long-term funding problems, and that certain sentencing guidelines may also need to be re-examined to relieve prison overcrowding.

``While being tough on crime and locking criminals up, we've failed to adequately address the funding needs of our Corrections Department and it's become an emergency situation,'' Rabon said.

``We're paying private prisons and we're paying county jails for bed space but we're not spending our money on a long-term solution.

``We've reached a fork in the road where we have to address this problem responsibly, or continue wasting taxpayer dollars and putting our correctional officers at risk.''

Coffee said lawmakers should await recommendations from the DOC audit in December before making any decisions. He said when capital costs are considered, the state has gotten a bigger bang for its buck by utilizing private prisons instead of building state facilities.

Justin Jones, DOC director, has proposed a new medium security prison and construction at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester to relieve inmate overcrowding.