State prison closing, sending inmates to Pt. Mac farm

This is an updated version of an earlier story, "State prison in Palmer to close."

PALMER — The Alaska Department of Corrections announced Tuesday it will be implementing a plan to close and repurpose Palmer Correctional Center. Commissioner Dean Williams says, “this plan will increase staffing and safety at other facilities.”

The plan to close the facility will be conducted in two phases: Palmer Correctional Center’s minimum-security side (176 hard beds and 25 staff members) will shut down first. Many of the minimum-security prisoners will be moved to Point Mackenzie Correctional Farm, which is “more conducive to transitional living,” according to the DOC press release.

“Inmates will learn valuable life skills, working with their hands, producing useful products, engaging with community volunteers and creating a better, peer-level environment to transition back to civilian society,” the release reads.

Williams said the move of 13 staff and 70-80 inmates from Palmer Correctional to Pt. Mac will help the farm there expand, increasing food production and opportunities for local farmers to sell their excess produce to the DOC for processing.

The closure is also expected to save $5.6 million of the Palmer Correctional Center’s annual budget of $10.6 million. The remaining $5 million will be reallocated to other facilities to bring staffing levels closer to recommended levels and reduce overtime paid by DOC. Overtime at three of those facilities cost the state $1.85 million last year alone, according to the release.

In addition to the 13 moving to Pt. Mac, 12 Palmer Correction staff will be displaced by the closure, hopefully to other facilities in Southcentral Alaska, Williams said.

“The best case scenario is that no one would lose their position,” he said. “Even the worst case scenario, the numbers (of staff) are very small and the plan we have should allow people to keep their jobs.”

The plan to close the Palmer Correctional Center medium security side will take four to five months, dispersing inmates between Goose Creek and Wildwood Correctional Complex in Salamatof, north of Kenai. Phase two of the move is scheduled to be implemented in November.

While the Department expects to reduce at least 30 positions, the actual loss of jobs should be minimal, given the time frame to transition, Williams said.

“Its painful because it’s change and it’s painful because we’re asking staff to relocate and we’re relocating inmates which will disrupt visiting hours. There’s nothing easy about these decisions … but the silver lining is I can reallocate staff to where we’re vulnerable right now,” he said.

Inmate placement will be based on the custody levels accommodated by the destination facility.

The Mt. McKinley Meat and Sausage Plant operated by the Department of Natural Resources will still be staffed by minimum-custody inmates.

DOC plans to work with the Mat-Su community to repurpose the Palmer Correctional Center facilities for future use, just as the facilities at the Pt. Mac Correctional Farm may soon be repurposed, Williams said.

After months of discussion between DOC and the local opioid task force chaired by MY House Vice President Michael Carson, Williams has agreed to keep 10 of the 128 beds at the farm open for potential use as a place for addicts to safely manage opioid withdrawal.

“I can open up 10 spots very quickly — it’s other pieces of the plan that have to come together,” Williams said.

As detailed in an April 4 Frontiersman news story, “Nonprofit hopes to use prison farm for detox,” the plan would be for addicts arrested for a drug-related crime to appear in court and be referred to Pt. Mackenzie, where they could go through a 7-day detox, then be prescribed a designated opioid replacement drug — such as methadone or Vivitrol — to make the recovering addict able to live and work on the farm.

“If in fact this program comes together and I need to give them 10 beds, I would move inmates around or out … and handle security. They (the local task force) would need to bring the other pieces into play, like treatment,” Williams said.

The concept of a farm that rehabilitates prisoners and addicts at the same time in the same place is still just that — an idea, Williams said — but continues to develop as a viable possibility for the future of Pt. Mac Correctional Farm.

A wellness summit that will discuss solutions to the opioid crisis in Alaska is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 4 at Mat-Su College from 9 a..m. to 3:30 p.m. where attendees will hear from Dr. Mary Wakefield and Vice Admiral Dr. Vivek Murthy with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Karen Drexler and Dr. Jennifer Lee with the Veterans Health Administration, Gloria O’Neill of Cook Inlet Tribal Council and Kara Nelson wth Juneau Haven House.

The farm’s annual picnic open to the public is scheduled for the following day, Friday, Aug. 5 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Contact Lt.Thomas Gindling at 357-0983 with questions.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.