DOC brainstorms repurposing of Palmer prison

SUTTON — At the 640-acre campus of Palmer Correctional Center in Sutton, more than 100 representatives of local governmental, non-profit and other community groups scratched out ideas on large post-it notes and affixed them on the walls next to their tables.

The stakeholder meeting Nov. 9 was the first step in a public process that Dept. of Corrections Commissioner Dean Williams hopes will yield a plan for the recently-closed prison to be repurposed as a multi-use facility within about a year, he said.

The 25-building space will cost the state an estimated $1 million per year in maintenance costs as an empty facility, Williams said, including two maintenance personnel, heating to keep the pipes from freezing in winter, and security. The prison was closed to save on corrections costs in the midst of the state’s budget crisis. Now, the state is looking to the facility to save money for other departments and provide new uses for the public good.

The invitation to community leaders to drum up ideas for the facility comes at the direction of Gov. Bill Walker, DOC spokesman Corey-Allen said.

Unlike other projects with public impact, the repurposing of a state prison does not by law require public notice or input, Williams said.

Typically, such a public process involves a government or private agency putting forth a plan, notifying the public, and then opening a public comments period and possibly hosting stakeholder meetings to hear ideas and concerns.

They can also occasionally make participants feel jaded, such as when notice is legally adequate but communicated in places unlikely to be read or in language that isn’t plain; or when participants walk away from meetings and brainstorming sessions feeling the process is rigged toward a specific outcome without genuine regard for public input during meetings and brainstorming sessions.

Williams said that’s something he wants to avoid, aiming instead for a ground-up method that gets stakeholders involved in planning at the outset.

“The first step is to make sure we’re listening to different interests or concerns about how this is repurposed,” he said. “It’s within our rights to clear the facility and sell it outright, if we want to. But I’ve been concerned about losing campuses and facilities like this.”

After being asked to drum up ideas for the space that will provide cost savings and a public good, participants put up post-it notes bearing messages that most commonly referenced substance abuse treatment, vocational or other education programs, law enforcement training and transitional living or other housing programs. But the ideas included a diverse range of outliers, including an aviation park, hunting club, Alaska Native cultural program, Bible college or manufacturing. A few mentioned “income producing” without specific ideas for how the facility could make money, exactly. The vocational training program ideas included aviation, agriculture, and traditional wood shop.

Williams said he’s not sure yet how the department will follow up on these ideas, but as the meeting closed, promised to read each one. The DOC does plan to identify one “anchor” for the space, borrowing a term from box-store mall complexes, and then build around that. He said there wasn’t a record made of the individual participants who came, but that he would likely follow up with their organizations in the following months to hammer out details on what they’re looking for.

“If we asked for this process and 10 people showed up, that would tell me one thing. Based on the players here, that’s really encouraging to me. We see their concerns, and that will help determine how we follow up with people here.”