Local prison closing its doors

By: RAYMOND PARTSCH III
Managing Editor

Pine Prairie mayor Terry Savant was stunned when he found out that the Pine Prairie Correctional Center was closing its doors.
“The warden Terry Hines called and wanted to meet with me,” Savant said. “He came over here and sat down and said “I’ve got some bad news. The prison is closing.’ I was so shocked that I couldn’t say anything.”
The medium security facility for Evangeline Parish and state inmates opened its cell doors in 1999.
Savant also said that Hines informed him that the facility’s final day of operation would be July 10 and also said there is a possibility that the facility could possibly re-open in 2017 as a federal entity.
Hines declined to comment on the closure or anything else concerning the facility, citing corporate policy. The Pine Prairie Correctional Center is owned by GEO Group which is based out of Boca Raton, Florida.
The Gazette attempted multiple times to find out from GEO Group about the number of employees that would be losing their jobs, how many would be transferring to other facilities and what would happen with the current inmate population. The group declined to comment on the closure or provide any additional information.
In an e-mail to the Gazette, Vice President of Corporate Relations Pable E. Paez wrote, “While as a matter of policy, we cannot comment on specific operational matters, our company is undertaking efforts to re-purpose the Pine Prairie facility.”
While it remains to be seen if the facility will in fact be re-purposed, Savant is preparing to lose a considerable amount of funding.
“We had a contract with them where they would pay us 1.15 percent of what they got for the inmate population,” Savant said. “We were averaging anywhere between $5,000 to $5,500 per month in income. I figure we are going to lose $60,000 per year.”
In addition to that income, Pine Prairie will now lose that inmate labor to help with projects around town, in particular landscaping projects.
Despite the loss, Savant says that the town is in good shape financially.
“I don’t think it is going to effect us very much right off the bat,” Savant said. “We are okay as far as it applies to our budget. We have some money put up but I am going to miss getting the money.”