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GREENSBORO — The Guilford Correctional Center in McLeansville closed Oct. 1. Its prisoners have been transferred to other sites, and its guards will soon follow. Most of its furnishings are being carted to other prisons.

While all that is certain, what’s left to settle is what is going to happen to the building left behind.

“We don’t have any immediate plans for the facility,” said Keith Acree, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Correction.

The state-owned prison, also known as Camp Burton, was one of seven closed as a result of state budget cuts. The closures are expected to save the state $22 million.

According to the Appropriations Act of 2009, the Department of Correction can consult with state and local officials in which the closed prison is located to discuss the possibility of converting it to another use. The agency can also talk to private for-profit and not-for-profit organizations about the prison’s conversion.

The DOC must give priority to converting a closed prison to another criminal justice use where it would be cost-effective.

Prison Superintendent James Lacewell said he has heard about the space being used for people released from parole, which he said is not cost-effective, or for a pig museum.

“I don’t know if that was supposed to be a joke or something,” he said.

In April, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent Gov. Bev Perdue a letter asking that the prison be turned into the nation’s first pig empathy museum. The museum would display interesting facts about pigs and have exhibits showing how pigs are abused on factory farms.

Acree said he didn’t think the request garnered serious consideration.

PETA representatives were not available Friday to comment on Perdue’s response.

Sheriff BJ Barnes said he hasn’t heard of any ideas to use the prison, except that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of the Triad is interested.

The SPCA helped run “New Leash on Life,” a program in which inmates trained service dogs, for three years at Camp Burton.

Frankie Heath, the program’s founder and director, said the SPCA is still looking for a home.

Lacewell said he would like someone in the county to occupy the building he supervised for 13 years.

“If the SPCA could find a way to put it all to use, it would be nice,” he said.

“The offices here are very nice, and the building is well-maintained. It would be a shame to let it just waste away. When nobody’s inhabiting a building, it doesn’t take long for it to start to look bad.”

While Lacewell is making final arrangements to distribute furnishings and safeguard records, he said the change is apparent.

“It’s beginning to look very empty and very odd,” he said. “It’s getting that abandoned look.”
 

Contact Dioni L. Wise at 373-7090 or dioni.wise@news-record.com