August 28, 2008
Private Prison Opposed in Rachel Area

Photo provided by Bob Clabaugh

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

In September, the Lincoln County Planning Commission is scheduled to again discuss a proposed 2,000 bed, private prison planned in Rachel by Jim Toresen. There is strong opposition to the idea.

Pat Laudenclas, owner of the Little A'Le Inn at Rachel, is spearheading a movement to oppose the proposal when it comes before the Planning Commission during their September 11 regular meeting at the courthouse in Pioche. She said she did not want it, nor does most of the community of Rachel. Mrs. Laudenclas even circulated mailings around the county calling the proposal a Disaster in Lincoln County and claimed if such a prison were built, “child molesters would be living in halfway houses next to our children, criminal illegals would be released into our towns, visitors to the thugs overcrowding our highway, and escaped prisoners terrorizing our county.” She said during a telephone interview with the RECORD, “I don’t want to live in fear of someone escaping. I don’t want to live in fear of all the welfare people who are going to come in here and go and visit all these people.”

She also said, "If many citizens from Rachel had not gone to the last County Planning Commission meeting, it would have passed then.”

However, developer Jim Toreson told the RECORD by telephone, he feels all the negative comment is really being overplayed and says the informational flyer people received in the mail, was full of “animosity, misinformation and fear tactics.” He said, “I think the things they are worried about are not founded.”

Toreson said what he wants from the Planning Commission is a special use permit to try to attract a prison to come here. “But I don’t have a prison to put in…Right now, I don’t know if I can get a prison here or not,” he said. “We’re just trying to get a special use permit to see if we can go out and attract a prison to come here…” He said he knows the market of the private prison business pretty well and does have some prospects, “But, I don’t have a deal.”

Toreson explained the private prison he would like to build “would be a minimum-to-medium security, short-term facility, similar to the Pioche Honor Camp, except it would be potentially larger. It would not have hardened criminals,” he said. “The real bad guys are in the maximum security prisons, like the one near Ely.”

His plan calls for a 2,000-bed prison about six miles west of Rachel on part of the 1,000-acre plot called Lincoln Estates which he owns. The same area is also subdivided into lots of between one to two-and-a-half acres each.

Mrs. Laudenclas said she thought a prison there would have adverse effects on everyone in the county, “It will change our lifestyle so bad it would not even be funny…it’s upsetting to so many people in this community.”

She stated, “People probably wouldn’t want to buy a home lot in Lincoln Estates knowing a prison will be very close by.” She said she feels so strongly opposed to the prison that she will close the Little A'Le Inn in the afternoon to attend the planning commission meeting in September.

She said she felt there were better uses for the property that would be beneficial to the county and community rather than a prison, and mentioned the area could be developed for wind-generated electricity or maybe solar power.

Toreson said he does not want to bring harm to the county or community. “This is intended to be a positive economic development initiative,” he said. “I don’t intend on doing anything dangerous or that is going to hurt the town, because if I did, it would hurt me first because my subdivision would be right next to it…Any concern they (opponents) have, I have, because I won’t be able to sell the rest of my lots if it’s going to cause a lot of trouble. The rest of my lots will be less than a mile away from where this prison will be.”

Toreson cited the new private prison by Correctional Corporations of America, currently under construction in Pahrump, as a model for what he would like to see come to Rachel. “It’s a positive because it creates some jobs and can provide workers for local farmers and other things, much the same as the Honor Camp in Pioche,” he noted. “There’s a lot of good that work force can do.” He added, “If Pioche values the Honor Camp, wouldn’t the proposed prison also be of value to the town and the County?”

He said the Pahrump prison, when completed, will be closer to the center of town than the one proposed for Rachel; four miles as opposed to six.

Toreson believes private prisons can actually be quite a help to the community, “Not only by creating jobs and a significant tax base, but also a private prison pays taxes. A public prison does not…It will create a lot of nice jobs and careers in law enforcement and criminal justice.”

County Commissioner Tommy Rowe, who represents the Rachel area, said he has concerns “because we need business and we would like some economy, but not in a place where the residents don’t want it.”

Rowe said by telephone, “I’m opposed to putting it where they want. If they (Toreson) want a prison, come and let us find some property that would be suitable, not out in an area where most people don’t want it.”

Rowe said to date, the only information he has received about the Toreson development has come from local residents of Rachel. He also said it was his understanding that Lincoln Estates wanted to put in septic tanks and he thought, “That’s not good planning where the water table is only 40 feet down to hit the first water.”

An informal public meeting regarding the issue is scheduled for 10 a.m. September 6 at the ambulance barn in Rachel, and the item will be on the agenda for the September 11 meeting of the Lincoln County Planning Commission at the courthouse in Pioche. Toreson said he plans to attend both meetings.