HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Louise Grant, vice-president of marketing and communications for Corrections Corporation of America, speaks to a crowd at the Bob Ruud Community Center about the federal detention center project. SPECIAL TO THE PVT CCA released a variety of artist's renderings that indicate what the detention center planned for Pahrump will look like. Advertisement

Detention officers earning $25 per hour, inmates who undergo intensive rehabilitation, foolproof "Star Wars" security, over $800,000 paid in property taxes annually and generous contributions to causes like the Boys and Girls Club seem almost too good to be true.

Those were some of the benefits promised by Corrections Corporation of America, which will begin construction on a federal detention center in Pahrump this fall.

The project is to be completed by the end of 2009 or early 2010.

Brad Wiggins, senior director of site acquisition, said the company is still waiting for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list mitigation measures for the desert tortoise, which are expected by Aug. 29.

Nye County commissioners scheduled a public hearing on the proposed development agreement for 1:30 p.m., Sept. 16.

Louise Grant, vice-president of marketing and communications for Corrections Corporation of America, led a well-versed presentation on the proposed federal detention center on East Mesquite Avenue, called the Nevada Southern Detention Center.

She and others spoke before 90 people during the PAVED meeting Tuesday at the Bob Ruud Community Center.

It was a far cry from the handful of people who turned out for the public hearings on the project, advertised last year.

"There are three key ingredients: We're bringing jobs, we're bringing valuable taxes and bringing strong community support," Grant said.

Corrections Corporation of America began the privatized correction business 25 years ago and now operates 65 correctional facilities in 19 states, she said.

"We manage more than 750,000 offenders on any given day which makes our company the fifth largest correction system in the U.S. What that says to us is we have to be meeting all the expectations of the government," Grant said.

She sought to dispel a negative impression of correctional institutions, like some series being aired on television.

"Our correctional officers wear their uniform proudly. They stand upright. They greet our guests. They offer programs to our offenders. It's not like what you see on TV. We're out to break that stereotype," Grant said.

She said the 1,072-bed, $80 million detention center will be like a small city -- and will transform Pahrump.

Corrections Corporation facilities, she said, usually become a host town's largest taxpayer. The Pahrump facility will have more than 200 employees including doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, clerks, investigators, commissary and maintenance workers.

The company has to pass 580 checks to meet standards of the American Corrections Association, she said.

"Safe and secure -- I am sure that is one of your No. 1 concerns. Every community we go into when we're building a facility has those concerns," Grant said. "I can assure you CCA operates the highest level of standards in the corrections industry."

Entire pods of inmates undergo therapeutic substance abuse training, she said. Chaplains minister to prisoners every day.

Doug Swope, senior director of human resources, said the $25 per hour proposed for detention officers is based on the federal prevailing wage, currently $23.80 per hour, which should increase to $25 by the time the facility is open.

Other employees in the detention center will earn more.

The project is expected to spur development in that area, Grant said. But some real estate professionals in the audience had voiced concern over property values near a correctional facility, or like Norma Jean Opatik, preferred that higher ground on East Mesquite Avenue for nice residential development.

Neal Huff talked about preserving Pahrump's open view of the skies.

"There is absolutely no correlation beween the siting of a correctional center and property values. In fact, if you talk to many of our communities, because of the CCA, the whole value has gone up," Grant said.

Buddy Johns, senior director of project development, who will be in charge of building the detention center, said a general contractor will be used out of Pennsylvania, but it will use as many local subcontractors as possible.

Johns outlined a state-of-the-art security system with a non-lethal stun fence.

"If an inmate was trying to get over that fence, not only could I see him physically but I could probably count the number of molars in his mouth," Johns said. "To get out of these buildings is almost impossible to begin with, but then to get out of this perimeter is impossible."

The center will use downward-facing lighting to reduce nighttime light pollution and a masonry finish to blend in aesthetically with the desert, Johns said.

Carol Fucillo-Ollivier, a former police officer, quipped the people detained at the facility won't come from "Beaver Cleaver" families, as typified in the television series "Leave it to Beaver."

Grant said, "There will not be any offender who is ever released in this community." Inmate visitors must be on an approved list, she said.

Corrections Corporation has its own outfit that transports prisoners, Transcor, she said.

But Tom Hegemann, standing with a group outside the Bob Ruud Community Center, noted Pahrump could have neighbors living inside the fence like the late Timothy McVay, the Oklahoma City bomber, or Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, who were federal prisoners.

"You have a whole big desert out there," Pearl West said to some applause. "Why didn't you choose a place that is not smack dab in the center of town?"

Ken Terry, an 18-year employee of the Nevada Department of Corrections, countered that Pahrump already has a lot of ex-felons living in the community.

Grant said 70 to 80 percent of the population of federal inmates are in for drug charges.

Terry Vore was concerned about what may happen after the initial five-year contract with the U.S. Marshal Service expires.

Sean Brooks, a Pahrump town board candidate, questioned why CCA lost the contract to run a women's prison in Nevada. Higgins said the Bureau of Prisons agreed to let the state take over that contract, after some chronic health issues involving some women prisoners.

Michael Scacia said a facility with over 1,000 beds would still be a threat to the public health and safety of a community the size of Pahrump. He planned to submit a request for more information under the Freedom of Information Act, but said CCA, a private company, hasn't answered those requests since 1998.

County commission candidate Harley Kulkin charged CCA built in Pahrump simply because it was the cheapest place to go.

While some grumbled about being caught off guard by the project, Chris Ferrari, of R&R Partners, said the company had no fewer than eight meetings that were publicly advertised under the Nevada Open Meetings Act.