Allen Correctional Center reached a milestone Thursday, marking its 25th year by highlighting its economic impact and reflecting on what the facility has meant to its employees.
“We are able to reflect on our professional growth over the years as individuals and as the Allen team in a career truly known as one of the toughest in the modern world,” employee LaSonya Fruge said.
Fruge was among 22 employees who have been with the prison since it opened in 1990 on a 950-acre site just north of Kinder.
“Many of us refer to our home away from home simply as Allen, and we know the blessing bestowed upon us personally and professionally over the past 25 years,” she said. “While in our profession not every day is easy to celebrate, we do proudly celebrate as well as recognize the positive impact we have left in our communities, our parish, our neighboring parishes of Southwest Louisiana, and the state.”
Warden Keith Cooley recognized the employees for 25 years of service at the prison and looked back at the facility’s beginning.
“In November 1990, the correctional facility was officially opened under a management services agreement between the Wackenhut Corp. and the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections,” Cooley said. “At that time it housed 706 offenders.”
Today the facility has more than doubled its size, housing 1,575 offenders and offering various programs to help rehabilitate inmates, provide them with life skills and prepare them for release, he said.
The Allen facility was one of the original prisons contracted by the Wackenhut Corp., which was later acquired by the GEO Group.
Seth Smith, chief of operations for the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections, said contracting with a private provider was the most feasible option for addressing the increase in offenders.
“The state had the ability to build the facility here, but the staffing and other operations here were beyond our capabilities and reach,” Smith said.
“Over the 25 years the GEO Group and Allen Correctional Center have prided itself on being a good neighbor and a friend to the surrounding communities and parishes of Southwest Louisiana,” Cooley said. “They have a true commitment to hiring local staff and purchasing from local businesses.”
Blake Davis, a GEO Group executive, said the prison continues to have a commitment to the local and state economies, with most of its 304 employees being from the local area.
“Over 50 percent of the employees live in Allen Parish, with 90 percent living in Allen Parish and neighboring parishes,” he said.
The prison, described by Davis as a city within a city, has added greatly to the local and state economies.
“On the average this facility contributes about $3.5 million annually to local services, including local businesses, utility services and sales taxes, in addition to the $10 million that we put in payroll,” Davis said. “Folks are getting paid, and they are spending money in the community and putting their kids through schools, which impact the local communities.”
The facility also provides $16,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors and participates in civic organizations, school activities and fundraisers.
Ed Shirley, who has worked at the facility for 25 years and served under four wardens, stressed the local impact of the facility.
“Over the years the Allen Correctional Center has had an enormous impact, not only in the lives of its employees and families, but on the lives of other citizens of Allen Parish and surrounding parishes,” Shirley said. “It would be difficult to measure the economic impact of what this facility has meant to the local communities.”
The facility has provided employees with an opportunity to live and work in the same community for 25 years, he said.
“As we look back over the 25 years of the Allen Correctional Center, I and my co-workers have our families and we have what we call our Allen family, and the bonds we have with each other are just as strong as the bonds we have with our families we are related to by blood.”
