Bill Palatucci, senior vice president of Community Education Centers, said his company will house approximately 400 inmates at the center when it opens in November.

Richard Allen, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, said the inmates will work in one of the state's 10 work release facilities after successfully completing the six-month Columbiana program.

Allen said the inmates will not have been convicted of violent or sex-related crimes.

Columbiana Mayor Allan Lowe said he is aware of concerns among residents that inmates might pose a threat to the town.

"These people will be unable to leave the facility from the time they get here until the time they complete their training," Lowe said.

City Councilman Danny Kelley, whose district includes the property where the center would operate, said he has concerns.

"If you're in prison, you've done something to be sent to prison," Kelley said. "I have a lot of safety concerns."

Johnnie Doss Page, president of the Shelby County chapter of Victims of Crime and Leniency, or Vocal, said she plans to circulate a petition asking city leaders to stop the plan.

Though not a Columbiana resident, Page said she attends church there and shops in downtown Columbiana.

"They call this a Community Education Center, but I call it a prison," Page said. "This is leniency for our inmates who have broken our laws, and it's wrong for Columbiana."

Palatucci said those concerns are understandable. "We end up being a really good neighbor; no one's getting out, " he said.

Allen said the training the inmates will receive at the center should help keep them from returning to prison.

"They focus first on changing the inmate's life. They try to get the criminal thinking out of them," Allen said of the program.

The program also focuses on teaching the inmates a skill they can apply to a work release job, Allen said.

The Department of Corrections is close to signing a three-year, $3 million contract with Community Education Centers, Allen said.

"It's a done deal except for signing the contracts," Allen said.

Like an 800-bed prison:

Having two six-month programs, each taking 400 inmates out of state prisons, will ease overcrowding while preparing inmates for work-release jobs.

Of the money those work release jobs pay the inmates, Allen said, 40 percent goes toward reimbursing the state for the cost of feeding and housing them.

The center, which will offer substance abuse counseling and job training, will be in a building that once housed Elastic Corp. of America, Palatucci said.

In January, Elastic Corp. announced the closing of its Columbiana facilities and moved operations to Honduras. The move eliminated about 250 jobs.

The Community Education Center will employ approximately 100 people, Palatucci said. Of those jobs, 33 positions will require a bachelor's degree and 10 will require a master's, Palatucci said.

The company plans to recruit within Shelby County for those positions and entry-level positions, Palatucci said.

The inmates, 350 men and 50 women at a time, will be near the end of their sentences when they come to the center, Palatucci said.

"The type of person who is there will be rejoining the community soon," Palatucci said. "It's better to provide those people with skills to keep them from re-offending."

After completing the program, Palatucci said, the inmates will return to state prisons to finish their sentences and then hopefully re-enter society through a work release program.

Community Education Centers has facilities in New Jersey, Colorado, Wyoming, South Carolina, Indiana, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wyoming.

E-mail: jgray@bhamnews.com