North Charleston prison could be closed
COLUMBIA — A minimum security prison in North Charleston would be closed and inmates moved under a budget proposal debated by the state Senate on Tuesday.
The Corrections Department already is running a deficit this year and is facing a $4 million cut in the fiscal year that begins July 1, Sen. Mike Fair said.
The current spending plan being debated by the Senate would affect 110 prison jobs and lead to the closing of the Coastal Pre-Release Center in North Charleston, the Palmer Pre-Release Center in Florence and the Lower Savannah Pre-Release Center in Aiken, the Greenville Republican said.
Coastal Pre-Release at 3765 Leeds Ave. houses non-violent inmates within three years of release, according to the Corrections Department's Web site.
Inmates there have access to adult education, vocational training and drug and alcohol counseling.
The facility provides labor crews to the Berkeley County Water and Sanitation Authority, Charleston County and the city of North Charleston.
A woman at the facility refused to comment Tuesday night.
Prison spokesman Josh Gelinas could not confirm if the agency would have to cut jobs. He said the department can avoid closing prisons if it is allowed to operate with a deficit next fiscal year. The Budget and Control Board would have to sign off for the agency to do that.
Although the Senate gave the spending bill second reading Tuesday, the debate likely will continue through today over challenged budget provisions.
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Comments
desspec (anonymous) says...
Gee, I had to obey the law and pay for my education and vocational training ... maybe if prisoners were put to work and truly made to "pay their debt..." it would help the budget.
April 16, 2008 at 8:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
5thGenerationLocal (anonymous) says...
Posted by raregar67 (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 8:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Within 3 years these inmates will return to their communities, God forbid something hasn't changed in them. I am not a bleeding heart liberal, far from it...but attempting to erase the defects that landed them in prison seems like a good investment to me. JMO
People do not change after prison. I do not know what the percentages are, but I am sure that they are high. If they get out, they will return. Not only becuase they enjoy the life of crime, but for what prisons afford them. There is a hierarchy inside prison walls that can be tougher to scale than on the street.
Rehabilitation is not the answer.
April 16, 2008 at 8:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
highclass (anonymous) says...
Give me a break. You speak about things you have no knowledge of. SCDC is the biggest money making scheme I have ever seen. Many inmates do work for private industry while in prision. The prision gets paid for the labor they provide. SCDC also charges the inmates who work room and board. Several prisions have there own farms where they grow enough vegetables to feed the entire population. There is also a prision that raises cattle. Inamtes are charged alot for the things they buy from the prision ie. soap, shampoo and snacks etc. Do some research and you will see!!!
April 16, 2008 at 9:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
suec (anonymous) says...
5thG, some people do change becuase of prison. My husband was sent to prison for a very short time when he was about 19 for a trespassing violation and some other things that added up. I didn't know him back then.
He spent 1 week at CCI in Columbia and said that convinced him that he NEVER wanted to go back. It's been 40 years and he hasn't had so much as a traffic ticket since.
April 16, 2008 at 9:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
5thGenerationLocal (anonymous) says...
SUEC, that is good to hear, but I gotta stand tall on the fact that most cannot/will not be reformed. Not because the system didn't try, but because the individual did not want change. Your husband was one of the lucky few who saw the light quickly. For that, I am proud. BUT, that does not change the fact that criminals are criminals. And the vast majority of them will always be.
And highclass, prisoners should have to pay for items that they need or want. They already get free gym membership, room and board and school. They have to be held accountable for something.
April 16, 2008 at 10:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
512c (anonymous) says...
Halleluia!!!!!
Hosanna!
One less prison!
Seriously, we need to free all non-violent drug past-possesors
April 16, 2008 at 11:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
megaward (anonymous) says...
Why not just put a fence around North Charleston, isn't that where most of the crimes happen?
April 16, 2008 at 11:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
512c (anonymous) says...
Wow, after commenting, I read comments above mine... and wow, this is getting interesting.. what do we have here: with NCHeat... police? and Raregar: Lawyer?
well, my father was in prison for possession (Bush JR was a possessor, and now... oppressor, but I will forgive him (not forget)). And now he is a lawyer.
He spent some time because of drugs... now he has been free for at least 35 years and since then, a pilot for several ministries like Swaggart, Robertson, etc... and went back to school to become a lawyer.
Just because someone breaks a law doesn't make them an evil person. In fact, in my opinion, many who write/enforce the laws are abusing natural laws. We should know better, if a law says you can't grow a green plant, and it says: arrest those that do.. that law should change. If someone asked me to arrest, abuse, torture, kill for a law I would not do it. I would quit my job! So, Heat... I recommend: protest your orders.
April 16, 2008 at 11:43 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
It seems to me that commiting a felony and earning a prison sentence with any real time is a life long commitment. Even if you learn your lesson, your debt is never really paid. Chances are that the average felon comes out with nothing. Aside from voting and gun rights, survival is a concern. Few are the employers who pay decently and who take in ex-cons. The financial and social debt is never paid in full.
April 16, 2008 at 12:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
512c (anonymous) says...
No Theronce, and yes... Part of the sad thing about prison is that the family of the prisoner suffer, financially and socially. the debt that people take on by bail is a crime. The money is used for what?
Did you all know that it cost more to send a prisoner to prison, even in today's private corporate prison (paid for by tax, which I would have no part with, but am forced (D.C. license plate reads:"Taxation without Representation..." Where is the NO!"?). If one steals, because they are addicted to stealing (I had a friend that went to the mall just for a thrill), or steal to make money to pay for a habit, and you cut off their arm, you will be paying for that arm, by karma, and by the hole in society it creates.
The problem with our current environment is that we thing we can take the quick way out, and send people into debt, and prison, or both, and not pay for it with long term sickness of society!
April 16, 2008 at 1:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
highclass (anonymous) says...
5th Generation I agree that they should pay but SCDC marks the items up so high. They are making a killing. ColdBeer I do work for a profit company. You need to do a little research. While I was in college I did an in depth study of SCDC. What I found out was that SCDC makes tons of money. It really needs no taxpayer money at all. In fact, SCDC should be paying something to the taxpayers.
April 16, 2008 at 2:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
512c (anonymous) says...
"our" safety...
have you seen the video of the police driving through "their" neighborhood?
"yours" is next...
April 16, 2008 at 3:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
pithy (anonymous) says...
Maybe instead of providing and paying for free education and rehabilitative training they could have the inmates go along the road and trim trees...
April 16, 2008 at 5:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
PoisenIvy (anonymous) says...
VIOLENT offenders roaming the roads armed with axes and chainsaws...now THAT will definitely make our communities feel SAFER...
April 16, 2008 at 5:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
pithy (anonymous) says...
"Coastal Pre-Release at 3765 Leeds Ave. houses non-violent inmates within three years of release, according to the Corrections Department's Web site."
PoisenIvy-I didn't read in the article that the people that I was referring to were "VIOLENT" - so sorry to offend.
April 16, 2008 at 5:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dianed43 (anonymous) says...
just what SCDC needs. close more prisons so the ones that remain open are even more overcrowded and understaffed. obviously they have learned nothing after all the inside investigations that were recently conducted. overcrowding is a danger for the inmates as well as the employees.
April 16, 2008 at 6:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lexylady (anonymous) says...
Bring back the "Chain Gang". No work, no eat!! We are way to easy on criminals today. That is the problem as I see it!
April 16, 2008 at 7:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
luvmydogs59 (anonymous) says...
The powers that be should take a lesson from Sherrif Joe Arpachio from Maricopa County, Arizona. I'm sure many of you have heard of him...he is the sherrif that runs the prison where they have what is known as "tent city". He makes the inmates wear pink boxers, socks, etc. He uses his inmates on chain gangs, farms, animal shelters, etc., etc. where they earn .28 cents an hour. If you read any articles on this man, you will find that he has totally reduced the costs of running the jail and the recidivism rate there has been drastically reduced. If he can do it there, in the Phoenix area, which is much larger than this area, why can't they do it here?
April 17, 2008 at 12:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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