Public hearing needed on future of Palmer Correctional

To the editor:

The Palmer Correctional Facility will be shutting down. DOC Commissioner Dean Williams spent the morning of July 26, 2016 meeting with Mat Su Borough officials and with Palmer mayor DeLena Johnson before going public with the announcement. There was NO opportunity for public input.

Palmer Correctional houses 176 minimum and 300 medium security inmates.Williams said the minimum security inmates will be transferred to the Point MacKenzie prison farm. Medium security inmates will be re-housed to other facilities, such as Goose Creek Correctional at Point MacKenzie or Wildwood Correctional in Kenai. Twenty-three staff members will go with them. Williams expects most of the corrections officers at Palmer to be transferred to other jobs.

The Palmer facility itself will be “repurposed”, Williams said. “We are giving ourselves four to five months to accomplish the entire closure and re-purpose of the facility.”

Williams said the facility is being closed to save money and improve inmate safety. Statistics show that PcC is the most economical and safe prison facility in the state.

How will this move save money?

If all staff is retained, no savings will be realized for labor costs.

If the facilities are repurposed, there will be no savings on building maintenance and utilities. In fact, remodeling to repurpose will add cost. And whatever its purpose becomes, there will be expenses for another program.

Transportation costs for prisoners’ court appearances will quadruple. Transporting food and other needs, even providing mail service will triple.

Needed changes at other facilities to accommodate an additional 500 inmates is bound to add additional costs.

There will be the cost of transporting 500 inmates and their belongings.

No thought has been given to how this will affect local communities. Sutton will suffer.

Mail generated by inmates and their families has kept the Sutton Post Office open. Without PCC, the post office will certainly be closed.

Some staff members and inmate families reside in Sutton. Losing them will cause hardship for people renting to them.

The local elementary school constantly fights for numbers to stay open. Loss of students from these families could endanger the school.

Inmates regularly help with community projects like building a playground and cleaning up the Jonesville camping area. That help would be missed.

This move should not proceed until the public has been heard. Contact the Commissioner and the Governor now and demand a public hearing.

Governor Bill Walker (907) 465-3500 governor@alaska.gov

DOC Commissioner Dean Williams (907) 269-7397dean.williams@.alaska.

Roberta Mason