Sixty-two percent of RC prison <BR>staff live within 30 miles of facility

Posted 2/7/01

Sixty-two percent of RC prison
staff live within 30 miles of facility

By MaryHelen Swanson

On a quarterly basis, members of Rush City and other area communities meet with staff from the Rush City Correctional Facility, at the prison, to get updates on the goings on at the facility.

One of the communityís concerns when the facility was located there, was that local people would benefit from job opportunities.

At the January meeting of the community advisory group, among the agenda items was an update of the percentage of staff living within a close proximity of the facility.

As noted in the color graph at left, 63 percent or 135 of the 219 current employees, live within 30 miles of the prison.

This information was well received by the community advisory group.

Mohs assured the group that as additional staff are hired at the prison, especially Correction Officers, efforts will be made to hire as many as possible from the local area.

According to the latest calculations, the prison is expected to reach full capacity in the fall of 2003.

An economic impact study, prepared by Minnesota WorkForce Center employee Michelle Ostrom, notes that if full operational costs and salaries remain the same as currently projected, the yearly impact of the Rush City Correctional Facility at full capacity is expected to be $3.7 million annually to the five-county area.

Also at the January meeting, the group was updated on present prison programs including education, industry, religious and psychological, all available for offenders at the facility.

Members of the community attending this meeting included Harold Lasley, Chisago County Sheriff Randy Schwegman, area resident Lyle Steltz, Rush City Councilman Bill Schneider, area resident Gerald Mollberg, Chisago County Commissioner Mike Robinson (representing Dist. 5), residents Dave Gurney, Jerry Parkin, Phil Leier, Helen Leier, Judy Franke, and Rush City Administrator Daniel Hoffman.

Prison staff attending included Warden Mohs, and assistant wardens John King and Mark Freer.