Federal immigration prison could help NC
08/14/2007 09:59 PM
By: Shawn Flynn
http://news14.com/content/headlines/585 ... fault.aspx

Cumberland County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph and Rep. Sue Myrick are working on the deal that could alleviate the jail overcrowding crisis and not cost a single local tax dollar.

CHARLOTTE -- Cumberland County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph and Rep. Sue Myrick are working on the deal that could alleviate the jail overcrowding crisis and not cost a single local tax dollar.

“We have about 550 inmates sleeping on the floor at night," said Pendergraph.

Twenty percent of the entire Mecklenburg County jail population are illegal immigrants. News 14 Carolina learned a plan is in the works to build a 1,500-bed facility to house the illegal immigration population in the southeast.

"This facility would not only be used for Mecklenburg County the way we have it planned or North Carolina. It's going to be large enough to be a point of detention for most of the southeast," said Pendergraph.

Sheriff Pendergraph made the initial presentation to the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday night.

The best part, according to the Sheriff, is local taxpayers won’t pay a dime.

"Some private contractor would build the facility. We would lease it from them and lease it back to the federal government to pay for it and the staff."

Currently the federal government pays $110 a day to house an illegal immigrant or federal prisoner. If you multiply that by 1,500 prisoners, that's more than $60 million a year. That's nearly the cost of building a similar type facility in Texas.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, already wrote a letter expressing major interest in this concept. Commissioners were excited about the plan.

"It'll be built quickly, inexpensively, has a long life," said Republican Commissioner Dan Bishop.

"Certainly we need the bed space and if we can have a partnership with the federal government, we can do it in a way that's not only correctional sound, but fiscally sound," said Democratic Commissioner Parks Helms.

The sheriff said this new facility is desperately needed.

“If we get the facility built here that we're planning, it'll definitely ease our overcrowding situation in that area," said Pendergraph.

The idea for this first-of-its-kind facility in the country is in a preliminary stage. The hope would be the immigration court, scheduled to open next January, would be housed in the same facility to make it easier and faster to process the immigrants.
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Posted on Wed, Aug. 15, 2007
Holding center for
illegal immigrants?
http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/236837.html
CLEVE R. WOOTSON JR. AND ANN DOSS HELMS

Federal immigration officials want to build a 1,500-bed detention facility in Mecklenburg County to house illegal immigrants before they're deported.
The facility would ease the strain on the county's overcrowded jails, where 500 inmates sleep on the floor every night.

The center -- the first in the country -- could open in less than two years and would be the final stop for illegal immigrants from the South and Mid-Atlantic regions, Mecklenburg Sheriff Jim Pendergraph said.

It would be built and owned by a private developer and leased by the county, which would bill the federal government for each inmate who spends the night. Pendergraph said it was unclear how long it would take the developer to recoup the capital costs.

The news of the holding center comes five months after the U.S. Department of Justice announced plans to open an immigration court in Charlotte. The court is scheduled to open early next year.

Pendergraph said he and U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Charlotte Republican, traveled to Washington twice this year to lobby for the detention facility. He received a letter of intent from officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement this month.

They said, "If you build it, we'll come," Pendergraph said.

"They're so short on space," he said, "they would even bring prisoners from as far as New York."

Pendergraph said that his office had already been in contact with potential developers and that the center could be open in as few as 18 months. His office is looking for sites.

The facility could also house other federal prisoners, such as the roughly 600 currently being held in Mecklenburg jail by the U.S. Marshals Service. The federal government pays $110 a night for each inmate in the county jail.

On Tuesday, Mecklenburg commissioners authorized Pendergraph to talk with federal officials about funding and building the holding facility.

"I think it's a very creative way to address the crowding situation at the county jail," Republican commissioner Karen Bentley said.
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Posted on Wed, Aug. 15, 2007
http://www.charlotte.com/204/story/236956.html
Mecklenburg sheriff wants to build detention center

A proposed 1,500-bed detention center for illegal immigrants being deported and other federal prisoners could ease the crowding in the county jail, the Mecklenburg County sheriff said.
The county Board of Commissioners authorized the sheriff on Tuesday to talk to federal officials about the funding for a detention center. The facility could be ready for use in less than two years and serve the South and Mid-Atlantic regions, said Sheriff Jim Pendergraph.

The sheriff said he and Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., have lobbied federal officials for the detention facility. Pendergraph said he received this month a letter of intent from the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"They're so short on space, they would even bring prisoners from as far as New York," Pendergraph said.

Five months ago, the U.S. Justice Department said it would open an immigration court in Charlotte in 2008.