By Phil Kabler
The Charleston Gazette
CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Proposals are moving forward with plans to convert a portion of the soon-to-be closed Naval Information Operations Command base in Pendleton County into a state prison, Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein told legislators Thursday.
Rubenstein said the state has submitted a formal application to the federal General Services Division to use part of the 122-acre Sugar Grove military base. In addition to a 600-plus bed correctional facility, the joint application also calls for the state National Guard to develop a Wounded Warrior assisted-living center on the base, and for the state Department of Agriculture to use some of the acreage for farmland to be maintained by inmates.
The U.S. Navy announced plans in 2012 to close the base, which according to news reports has been involved in communications-intercept operations, sometime this fall.
Rubenstein said estimates are that it would cost about $18 million to make dormitory style housing on base suitable for use as a corrections facility, noting, “It’s certainly still a far cry from $200 million-plus to build a new facility.”
He said Corrections is facing issues with aging prison facilities, including Pruntytown Correctional Center, which was built in the late 1800s as a juvenile detention facility, and Lakin Correctional Facility for Women, opened in the 1920s as a psychiatric hospital.
He also said prospects for a facility at Sugar Grove, as well as a faster-than-expected decline in prison population prompted by community corrections and accelerated parole options enacted in the 2013 Justice Reinvestment Act have made a proposal to house up to 400 inmates in a private prison in Kentucky unnecessary.
Corrections officials announced earlier this week they would not be proceeding with plans to move inmates to the prison, located near Hazard, Kentucky, and operated by Corrections Corporation of America.
Also Thursday, Rubenstein told the Senate Finance Committee that the division’s proposed 2015-16 budget does not include funding for any pay raises, even though low pay, high turnover and vacancies are continuing problems, particularly at the Mount Olive and Huttonsville correctional centers.
He said Huttonsville currently has 89 job vacancies, including 75 correctional officers, and Mount Olive has 87 job vacancies, including 74 correctional officers.
“Sadly, it’s lead to a significant amount of overtime over the years,” Rubenstein said.
He said the division spends $5 million to $6 million a year on overtime, and said multiple mandatory 16-hour shifts contributes to employee burnout and turnover.
Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, told Rubenstein he believes low employee pay is plaguing many state agencies.
“I think there is a crisis…not only in Corrections, but in Highways, and our state hospitals,” he said.