The state Department of Corrections has said it's working on a plan to send most of Lee Arrendale State Prison's 1,200 adult male inmates to other prisons throughout the state, while its 11 juveniles, ages 13 to 16, will remain there, segregated from the female inmates. Also as previously reported, some inmates up to 20 years old who are considered too vulnerable to be moved into the adult prison population also will stay.
The female inmates will be brought in from Washington State Prison in southeast Georgia, and males eventually will fill the beds at that prison.
John Foster, a state senator from 1975-1992 and a four-year Board of Corrections member, says he believes the conversion is unnecessary and could cost a lot of money.
"If they do have some problems, (Lee Arrendale) could be tweaked ... with the system they have now," said Foster, who recently took a tour of the Lee Arrendale with state Sen.-elect Nancy Schaefer and corrections department officials.
Danny Moody, a former assistant warden at Lee Arrendale, said instead of converting the prison, officials could have moved the younger inmates to a small detention center, leaving Lee Arrendale to deal with only adult males. He said filling the prison with female inmates is no guarantee there won't be problems.
Marcia Scroggs, who chairs the Habersham Rotary Club's outreach efforts to Lee Arrendale, said she believes that the male inmates who are being moved will be denied the varied vocational and academic training they receive at Lee Arrendale. She also fears they'll lose educational credits and privileges they have earned.
At a recent GED graduation of more than 200 prisoners, many "were just down and out about it," Scroggs said.
But Brian Owens, the chief assistant to corrections department Commissioner James Donald, said the conversion will make better use of the prison, which requires more staffing as a maximum security prison than it would with women inmates who require less monitoring.
The plan is to finish moving inmates by April. About 300 males already have been transferred.
Lee Arrendale faces a lawsuit that was filed by the Southern Center for Human Rights after the death of an 18-year-old inmate in February. Staff attorney Sarah Geraghty said the Atlanta organization is "pleased with the department's decision" to make the changes.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/12/144841