Clarke to testify for Work Ethic Camp

LINCOLN -- Despite proposing that the Work Ethic Camp in McCook be closed, the director of the Nebraska Department of Corrections plans to speak in favor of the facility.

"The state's prisons are at 132 percent of capacity and we are short-handed for staff members," Harold Clarke, director of the prison system, told the Gazette today. "Program cuts were the only way we could see to meet the budget modification request," he said.

Despite the move, "the Work Ethic Camp is worthwhile," Clarke said. "It needs to be allowed to continue in operation."

While McCook residents support a balanced state budget, they just don't want Nebraska's state senators to do it at their expense.

A preliminary budget plan released Thursday by the Legislature's Appropriations Committee would close the new work ethic camp and a vocational rehabilitation satellite office in McCook to help the state deal with a $692 million shortfall.

"There have been a lot of cuts made in the rural part of Nebraska, particularly in western Nebraska," said Kay Lavene, executive director of the McCook Economic Development Corp. "This is just another blow."

Of particular concern is the closing of the state's one-of-a-kind, $6.7 million work ethic camp, a minimum-security prison that opened on the outskirts of McCook in April 2001.

The Appropriations Committee estimated the closure would save about $6.4 million in the next two-year budget.

Mayor Jerda Garey was shocked that legislators would consider closing the 100-bed camp not even open two years.

"They've made such an investment in it, and at this point we have a quality record," she said.

Authorized by the Legislature in 1997 as one way to reduce prison overcrowding, the work camp program is designed for adult offenders to take part in the camp's four-to-six month rehabilitation program.

Of the 206 offenders that had completed the rehabilitation program since its opening, 80 percent have not been sent back to prison, she said.

"Obviously, we think we're doing a good job," said Raleigh Haas, the camp's superintendent.

Those one-time offenders are now back in the workforce, contributing to society and not taking up expensive bed space in a prison, he said.

"We believe, given the chance to continue, we'll be saving money," Haas said.

"It's working," said Sen. Tom Baker of Trenton, who represents the McCook area. "It's community corrections at its best. It's where we're headed."

If the prison goes, so will its 85 employees that make an average of about $36,000 a year in salary and benefits.

"This would be devastating to our economy," Lavene said. "We are in the middle of a drought."

Haas agreed the impact would be difficult for McCook, population 7,994, to absorb.

"A loss of any job out here is hard," he said.

Garey refused to speculate on what impact the closure could have on her community.

"I don't even want to consider it at this point," she said. A committee hearing is scheduled on the camp's closing Wednesday, and McCook leaders are organizing car pools for the trip to Lincoln.

"This is serious business for us," Lavene said. "We need this facility and so do the taxpayers."

The vocational rehabilitation office in McCook is scheduled to close under the committee's plan along with offices in Chadron and O'Neill. The program helps people with disabilities join the workforce.