CHEYENNE - The Wyoming Department of Corrections expect to be able to recruit 60 percent of the labor force needed to run the new $128 million medium security prison at Torrington in the "commutable area," department director Bob Lampert said recently.

Lampert said the workers for the prison will come from western Nebraska, Torrington in Goshen County, Lusk in Niobrara County and neighboring communities.

The remaining 40 percent will come from transfers from other correctional institutions and from out of state, he said.

"In Goshen County there are probably more underemployed people than in other counties," Lampert said in an interview. "So even if the unemployment rate is low, the underemployment rate is fairly high."

"We'd be competing up there with an agriculture based, lower wage, service economy," he added.

At the Wyoming State Penitentiary (WSP) at Rawlins, the department is competing for workers with the energy industry's high paying jobs and with law enforcement agencies.

The WSP has about a 30 percent vacancy rate in security and correctional uniformed positions, a situation American Civil Liberties Union attorney Stephan Pevar said is dangerous for staff and inmates.

Lampert, however, said the number of inmate assaults at the WSP has continued to decline over the last few years despite the staff shortage that has required overtime for correctional employees.

"So the key indicators of safety issues indicate we're still operating a safe and secure facility and we're doing it by managing the staff we have and we couldn't do it if we didn't have great staff out there on the cell blocks doing their jobs," Lampert said.

The department, he said, has hired staff members who currently are working at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins or the Women's Center in Lusk and want to transfer to the Torrington prison.

"Now is a good time to hire on because in two years they will have the necessary certification and experience to go for supervisory positions," he said.

The Torrington prison needs a staff of 340 for an inmate population of slightly under 700.

Another problem with recruiting for the WSP is the shortage of affordable housing in Rawlins, a situation that shouldn't be a problem in Torrington.

Brad Sutherland, executive director of the Goshen County Economic Development organization, said Wednesday that about 100 existing homes under $150,000 are available in Torrington which, as of the 2000 census, had a population of about 5,800 in the 2000 census.

Contractors also are planning on subdivisions with 300 more houses but probably won't begin building until one year before the prison is scheduled to open.

Lampert said contractors are doing site preparation and will be into the concrete and steel construction phase this summer. The department has estimated the prison will be completed in the summer of 2009.

Sutherland said he doesn't expect staffing the institution to be difficult.

He said Torrington residents who work 45 minutes away in Scottsbluff may decide to quit their jobs in Nebraska and work at the prison.

And some residents of Nebraska, which has a state income tax and higher property taxes, may move to Torrington and work at the prison.

He noted the Scottsbluff-Gering, Nebraska area has about 30,000 residents.

"We'll pick up some people from that area but most will be local," Sutherland said.

Capital reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@casperstartribune.net