And, a little pat on the back to Gov. Beverly Perdue in her budget presentation, or at least for one part of her spending package, in which she calls for older, outdated prisons to be shuttered while leaving money in the budget proposal to build needed prisons. We hope legislators don’t take the short-sighted approach of trying to eliminate prison construction money, which could help the budget a little in the short term, but hurt the state in the long term.
Locally, most people, including us, have looked at the prison issues solely as an economic development tool — a new prison in Surry County would bring hundreds of stable, good-paying jobs with decent benefits. Recession-proof jobs.
But, the truth is, there are larger issues at stake. If current trends continue, North Carolina will need at least three more state prisons in coming years. And the prisons that Perdue wants to close are outdated, which means the inmates are probably living in less than ideal conditions, and safety might be a bigger concern.
North Carolina needs to continue building these facilities, maybe even more so than state officials realized. To overcrowd prisons, or continue using outdated facilities, would not be good for anyone.
We hope the General Assembly will take the governor’s advice in this instance and leave the prison construction money in the budget, and the legislators have the good sense to send one of those prisons to Surry County.
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