BY MARY ELLEN POWELL

Contributing Writer, Delta Business Journal

Congress recently approved an omnibus appropriations bill that includes $7 million for the first phase of a second federal prison in Yazoo City. The appropriation is set aside for architectural and engineering fees. Next yearÕs appropriation will be determined by cost estimates made based on the plans for the prisons, according to Elliot Caggins of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at Yazoo City.

Jerry Frasier, president and CEO of the Yazoo City Chamber of Commerce said, We are very excited about the prison coming. We have worked very hard to get this far and we are delighted that this will be coming our way.

The first prison, a low-security facility, houses about 1,500 inmates and employs approximately 300 workers. The second prison will employ approximately 400 to 450 people and will be a higher security level facility. The additional employees are required with the higher level of security.

Griffin Norquist, Jr., chairman of the Yazoo City federal prison project, told the Yazoo Herald, The important thing that people do not understand is that it will be a (completely separate) prison. People think its an expansion of (the existing) prison. Youll have a different warden, a different factory and a different security level. Youll have fewer prisoners and more workers.

Norquist credited Senator Thad Cochran, R-Miss., with helping insure that the facility be included in the 1999 federal budget.

The community (owes) a personal debt of gratitude to Senator Cochran and the other members of our congressional party and to Haley Barbour and Chris Henick, Norquist told the Yazoo Herald. Barbour and Henick led YazooÕs lobbying efforts.

When the first federal prison came to Yazoo City, many felt the community was not prepared for the changes and growth that would be coming their way. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, this is not an uncommon occurrence. In fact, a state of unpreparedness occurs in most new communities where large facilities are located. Towns in Florida, South Carolina, and Colorado have experienced the same difficulties.

Norquist was quoted in the Yazoo Herald as saying, ÒWe werenÕt ready in any sense of the word. We werenÕt ready in housing, our people werenÕt ready for the jobs.Ó

Yazoo City mayor Wardell Leach agreed with the need for the communityÕs citizens to be more prepared to take advantage of the employment opportunities that would come available.

In the same Yazoo Herald article he said, I think that if we could get the educational level of our people up a little bit that will help us with the prison (jobs) and with the general quality of life of our people, which is really what we are trying to do.

Frasier said, The two things that were of the most concern with the first phase was housing and schools and we have been directing our efforts toward solving those problems.

We have worked first to improve the schools and secondly to spur growth in the area of building apartments and affordable single-family dwellings. We are trying to time the building of houses and apartments so that they will be ready when the second phase comes in. We are working with developers and builders now and hope that we have everything lined up.

The community has benefitted greatly from the arrival of the first prison and Yazoo City has experienced a great increase in sales taxes since 1993, according to Frasier. The community would benefit even more if more prison employees would settle in the Yazoo City area.

The first prison has 300 employees, approximately 200 were transferred in and the others were those hired from outside of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. We have some of those who are living here and some live in other areas.

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