Local Officials Decry Economic Disaster from Closure of North Carolina Prison
Local Officials Decry Economic Disaster from Closure of North Carolina Prison
North Carolina officials plan to close the Robeson Correctional Center (RCC) because the state’s prison population has declined by 10 percent. Local officials are urging state legislators to keep RCC open so they can continue to use cheap prison labor.
Prisoners at RCC provide labor for Robeson County to perform work at the county fairgrounds, landfill, and parks. RCC also provides prisoner laborers for surrounding municipalities and the state’s Department of Transportation. It also houses a K-9 unit that assists state, county, and municipal law enforcement with tracking and drug interdiction.
Robeson County Manager Ricky Harris estimated it would cost the county about $700,000 annually to replace the prisoner labor. Currently, the county pays prisoners a wage of $1 a day.
“These inmates provide valuable services for Robeson County and the surrounding area,” said J.C. Huggins, regional director for the Department of Public Safety’s Division of Adult Correction. “You know the cost it will be to replace $1-a-day labor, and if you continue to use inmates for labor there will be transportation costs from transporting the inmates to Robeson County from the Scotland or Tabor City correctional centers.”
To avert a “disaster” to its economy, local officials urged legislators to thwart Gov. Pat McCory’s budget plan to close RCC on August 1.
“There is a tremendous economic impact on the county,” said state Rep. Graham, who represents Robeson County. “We want to say and send the message [to other legislators] that keeping the Robeson center open will not just be a savings to the county, but also be a savings to the state.”
Local officials planned to put together a report to demonstrate how closing RCC will devastate its economy, but to no avail. The prison closed on August 1, 2013.
Source: The Robesonian
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