Western Minn. town loses prison inmates--and jobs

by Mark Steil, Minnesota Public Radio

Appleton, Minn. — Residents of the western Minnesota town of Appleton are concerned about the future of one of the town's main employers, a private prison. The institution is operating at far less than its capacity of 1600.

Prairie Correctional Facility's population is less than a third of that. The number of workers at the prison has also fallen by about a third, to around 250. Appleton Mayor Ron Ronning can see the impact of the decline from two sides--he also works at the prison. He said the town needs the jobs the prison provides and says the facility is important to city government because it contributes about a million dollars a year in revenue.

"It's a livelihood for Appleton," said Ronning. "It's one of the biggest sources of incomes that we have in our budget."

One reason for the decline is the state of Minnesota decision to move hundreds of its inmates out of the prison. Sarah Berg with the Minnesota Corrections Department said the state reduction will continue.

Right now the Department of Corrections has about 200 offenders at the Prairie Correctional facility," she said. "And with our expansion at the Faribault prison we anticipate reducing our numbers at Prairie. But with population growth we expect to be using Prairie more in the future."

Right now the state has 200 inmates at Appleton, but that's expected to decline more over the next few years. However, long term plans show the state could be housing 1600 inmates at Appleton's prison by 2017, the prison's capacity.