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Scott State Prison in Milledgeville Slated For Closure
FOX24's Linh Bui looks at the second state prison closing in Milledgeville
Linh Bui
Story Created:
Jul 8, 2009 at 10:52 AM CDT
Story Updated:
Jul 8, 2009 at 10:23 PM CDT
Scott State Prison is old and inefficient. That's according to a spokesperson with the Georgia Department of Corrections, which has announced the prison will close.
It was built in Milledgeville in 1937 as part of Central State Mental Health Hospital. Inmates will now be moved to other facilities and the closure could save the department about $10 million a year.
A spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Corrections says 281 people are employed here at Scott State Prison and employees will be reassigned in the department, most within 45 to 50 miles away.
City Manager Scott Wood says the closure will probably not have much economic impact on the city.
"It's not like a restaurant closing or a retailer closing or some financial institution closing,” Wood says. “So it will not impact the typical citizen in any way.”
But he says the closure is a blow to community morale, a community that has recently seen the closures of two major plants - Rheem Manufacturing Corporation and Shaw Industries Group Incorporated.
"There are so many closing announcements all across the country, it's becoming almost redundant,” Wood says.
Announcements that worry residents like Steven Crenshaw.
"With a small town community like Milledgeville, when a big place closes down, we really feel the after effects. The way the economy is set up right now, if one thing closes, 10 other things suffer,” Crenshaw says.
It's an uncertain economic situation that has many people feeling fenced in.
And the Georgia Department of Corrections says it has not made plans about what to do with the Scott State Prison facility once it is closed.
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DeMar Banks said on Saturday, Aug 1 at 7:04 PM
That place was a dump. I was incarcerated there in the late 90's. There where remnants of when the building was a mental health institution being found. There was so much crazy stuff being found. Inmates found a car under ground with a tunnel!! The windows in one building where being re-built and there where some bones found. It was later revealed that they where pork chop bones. We speculated that it was a body. Surprised it lasted that long.
Parent said on Monday, Jul 20 at 10:19 AM
There are rats all around the kitchen. My son found rat fecies on his milk carton (the milk was always warm.)
Wifey said on Tuesday, Jul 14 at 5:13 PM
That place is a DUMP. Good riddance.
Worried said on Thursday, Jul 9 at 1:46 PM
It would seem that the city manager of Milledgeville would know that Scott State Prison employs approximately 300 people... I would say that would impact the community greatly.
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