Prison Can't Secure Town's Salvation

Prison can't secure city's salvation

By Erin Kennedy
The Fresno Bee
(Published June 19, 2001)

It's not likely Orange Cove will get the federal prison that it's competing against Mendota for, but that won't stop
Mayor Victor Lopez. He's courting private prison builders just in case.

Lopez is convinced that a prison would mean salvation for one of California's poorest cities, bringing high-paying jobs, more tax dollars and spin-off development.

Many of the would-be prison's neighbors are equally convinced it will be the city's ruination, draining water from its lifeblood industry, agriculture, putting more high-speed
commuters on two-lane roads and scaring off potential
development with higher crime.

At last week's emotional public hearing on the issue, the two sides faced off -- the mostly Anglo, established
farmers and business owners against the Hispanic, new
immigrant laborers and blue-collar workers who want permanent, full-time jobs.

Ironically neither side's predictions are likely to be
fulfilled. According to the few experts who have studied how prisons affect small towns, prisons rarely bring economic boom or more crime and crowding.

Orange Cove's leaders would do well to look to places
such as Avenal, Delano or Corcoran that still are struggling with soaring unemployment despite the prisons they host.
The San Joaquin Valley, with its plethora of struggling rural towns, has become a prison mecca with no real measurable benefits.
A 1990 state study of Avenal found that there was little
financial boost from the state lockup because prison
employees were willing to commute long distances rather
than relocate to a city they deemed too small, isolated and
without amenities. Avenal's 16% unemployment rate is the
same as before the prison was built.

Orange Cove might find itself in the same position.

Mayor Lopez insists his town will be different because he'll make sure residents are trained and ready for prison guard jobs. He points to how the town took 27 perpetual welfare mothers and turned them into certified day-care workers for the town's new child-care center: "If I can do that, sure as heck I can get some security guards ready."

Cathy Ramirez says there already are people ready for those jobs. The college-educated Ramirez commutes 45minutes because she can't get a job in her hometown. She has three college friends just like her who don't have the money to relocate for work and have resorted to picking peaches here.

"It's frustrating," Ramirez says. "It's time to let the city grow."

Orange Cove certainly needs something. Unemployment is 34%, and 69% of residents get some type of welfare. With a per capita income of $4,300, it ranks as California's poorest city. Any time there's a big freeze, it gets worse.

Manuel Ferreira, the city parks director, doesn't necessarily want a prison, but he doesn't see any better options: "We desperately need diversification. We need something,besides oranges ... We're going to dry up and blow away as a town otherwise."

He's right.

Too bad Orange Cove's opposing factions can't work together to bring in something with real, demonstrated benefits -- like maybe a call center or a food-processing plant.
The columnist can be reached at ekennedy [at] fresnobee.com or 441-6197