Before opening the first cell, Tabor Correctional Institute will expand, state officials said recently. Contractors building the mixed medium- and maximum-security prison opening in 2008 will make room for 1,500 inmates, instead of 1,000 as first planned.

The change means 250 additional jobs – up from the 400 correctional workers originally expected, said Pat Chavis, a regional director for the state Division of Prisons. State and local leaders touting the prison as economic development have said all along that the facility could easily expand. Chavis’ announcement to people taking a civic leadership class confirmed the deal.

Chavis told participants of the Tabor City Citizens Academy that prison guard jobs are difficult to fill; salaries average $25,000 a year, plus $8,000 in benefits.

Columbus County’s practical job-seekers number fewer than 300, said Tabor City Economic Development Director Steve Lynch. The prison requires workers from outside Columbus County and affordable housing for their families, Lynch said.

The prison will receive water from Columbus County and sewer service from Horry County, S.C.’s Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority.
Southeastern Community College is offering eight free classes for residents seeking prison jobs. The college also provides career counseling and many associate degree programs. To learn more, call 642-7141, extension 296, 212 or 397.

By Deuce Niven, Tabor-Loris Tribune

First ‘inmate’
already locked in

By CLARA CARTRETTE

Although it won’t open for another couple of years, the Tabor Correctional Institute has already claimed its first “inmate.”

Coley Greene of Tabor City will go down in history as the first person to get locked in at the prison site, although he didn’t commit a crime.

The young Tabor City man operates Greene’s Vending Company and was installing vending machines at the prison construction site a couple of weeks ago when he realized that everyone had left, locking him inside the gate. He used his cell phone to contact his dad, Greg Greene, who in turn contacted one of the construction engineers who was staying at Daddy Joe’s.

But the engineer’s services were not needed. The construction worker who locked the gate drove toward Tabor City to get gas and on his way home he drove back past the prison and saw a red truck inside the gate. Upon investigation he learned that Greene had been locked in and set him free.

The prison is being built off N.C. 904 northwest of Tabor City.