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EDEN - As many people might, Malcolm Allen had reservations when he learned a prison could be built about four miles from his home. He worried about security and lost property value.

But during a Wednesday tour of the Alexander Correctional Institution, Allen's first hand glimpse into what it means to be locked down allayed some of his fears.

"I noticed the numerous amount of checkpoints," Allen, president of the Eden NAACP, said Thursday. If inmates get out of their cells, "they have about eight or nine more checkpoints that they have to go through just to get to the outside," he said.

Rockingham County wants the state Department of Correction to consider it as a site for one of three prisons the state must build by 2016. The state needs two medium- and one minimum-custody prison for adult men. Eden officials already have identified land off Harrington Highway where they would like to see a prison built. The land would be annexed into the city.

About 50 residents and community leaders toured the maximum security prison in Taylorsville on Wednesday. The public will have the chance to weigh in on the prison plans at a hearing scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday at Eden City Hall.

For county officials the economic benefits are obvious: a medium-custody prison would bring more than 300 jobs to Rockingham, an economically distressed county that has been hit hard in recent years by losses in the tobacco and textile industries.

Officials are also encouraged that those jobs would be stable and immune to any downturns in the economy.

The starting salary for a correction officer is about $27,000, said Keith Acree, spokesman for the Department of Correction.

Boyd Bennett, director of the state division of prisons, said the Department of Correction would seek planning money for the prisons during the next General Assembly session.

The legislature would have the final say on where the prisons are located, Bennett said Wednesday. Several other counties have also shown interest, he said.

"We don't have a lot of time to sit around and think about it," said Amelia Dallas, vice chairwoman of the Rockingham County Board of Commissioners. "We've got to either go for it or put it on the back burner."

Dallas, a Realtor who lives in Eden, was among those who visited the Alexander prison. She acknowledged that county residents' concerns about security probably would be the biggest hurdle to overcome.

"I was glad so many people were able to go yesterday because things like that you have to see to understand the security features," Dallas said Thursday.

Forrest Bray, a former candidate for county commissioner, said the county needs as much new business as it could get to remove some of the tax burden from residents.

"They're going to put it somewhere, and we might as well take advantage of it," Bray said of the prison.

Visitors to the Alexander prison got a close and personal view of how a prison is operated. Inmates were in clear view - delivering meals as part of their job duties, picking up their medications at pharmacy windows and playing basketball in the gym.

Others peered from small, square windows inside their cells within the segregation unit. Inmates unable to get along in the regular population are secluded for weeks at a time.

It would take about two years to build a prison, and local officials would use that time to partner with Rockingham Community College to train potential employees.

The Department of Correction typically recruits experienced staff from other prisons to open new ones, state officials said Wednesday. At the 4-year-old Alexander prison, only about 35 percent of the approximately 500 staff members were hired from within the county.

But Bennett said that number can vary. At the state's newest prison, Tabor Correctional Institution in Columbus County, about two-thirds of the employees were hired from that area, he said.

Residents who attend Monday's hearing will hear from a host of state and local officials. They also will hear from leaders in other communities where prisons have been built. The economic development director in Bertie County and town manager of Taylorsville both plan to attend.

For more information about the hearing, call Eden City Clerk Sheralene Thompson at 623-2110.

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com