Minnesota is courting an influx of 1,600 Pennsylvania prison inmates, hoping to save jobs at Prairie Correctional Facility, a private prison in Appleton.
The prison, owned by Corrections Corporation of America, is reeling after losing most of its Minnesota inmates and all of the inmates it once housed from Washington state. A month ago, the prison told 120 employees -- more than half of the work force -- that they would lose their jobs Dec. 1.
"We're trying to help preserve those jobs any way we can," said David Crist, deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC).
Crist said Monday that DOC is acting as Prairie's agent as part of an agreement among states to shift prisoners when overcrowding occurs. "States exchange these prisoners without money changing hands," he said.
Minnesota is one of six states -- Kansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Michigan and Virginia being the others -- interested in taking the prisoners. Pennsylvania seeks the transfers because of overcrowding in the state's 27 prisons.
Losing the Appleton prison, in west-central Minnesota near the South Dakota border, would devastate an economically depressed area, said Mayor Ron Ronning, who also works at the prison.
"If Prairie fails, I can say to you easily that 60 percent of this city's budget would go away," he said. "It's kind of a depressed time for us right now, and I hope something breaks loose for us."
The prison pays about $1.1 million to the city of about 2,000 residents each year for taxes and water usage. Housing 1,600 new inmates, he said, would be a "dream come true."