After the failed legislative attempt to secure additional funding for the $825 million prison in Lincoln County, many are skeptical of the prospect of a new men’s prison.
Lawmakers, on the other hand, have some optimism.
In February, Gov. Larry Rhoden announced an executive order resetting the whole project. That included a 20-member group he calls the project prison reset task force.
District 11 Rep. Brian Mulder is one of the lawmakers on the task force. He said he believes the issue at hand is not a building problem. It’s a culture problem.
“I had volunteered and worked some programming for five years in the prison where I did see it actually as very vibrant: job training, some chemical dependency, some family reunification things happening,” Mulder said. “And all of that has eroded in the last few years and that’s what concerns me. It’s that, well if we had it before and now, we’re eroding it, why do we think that’s going to translate into a new facility.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed shifting the DOC’s focus from a “correctional” approach to one of rehabilitation. They argue if people are to reintegrate into society – then rehabilitation is key.
Mulder was skeptical of putting more funds toward the project this session. He said he thinks expecting a new facility to fix culture problems is a little like putting the cart before the horse.
“I don’t think you build the space and then provide the rehabilitation. I think you do that now, then you set a vision for rehabilitation and have the space meet those needs,” Mulder said.
In a year where the state budget was slim, legislators took issue with the high price tag. It would have been the largest expense for a single project in state history.
Mulder agreed, but said the bigger issue was the project’s estimated $25-30 million in ongoing costs.
“So, my hope is we’ll be able to bring that forward, hopefully not as big a price tag and not ongoing costs. Because, quite frankly, we could build it with one-time funds, that’s easy," Mulder said. "But, paying for it ongoing for operations and staffing makes it much more difficult at the scale we were talking about.”
They are hoping to have a decision by the end of July.
