Downtown Prison Gets Final OK : Corrections: State action means construction could start in summer. But opponents vow to block the facility with a lawsuit.

State officials Wednesday gave final approval for construction of a prison on the edge of downtown Los Angeles, but opponents of the planned medium-security lockup immediately vowed to go to court to block the project.

Corrections Director James Rowland said construction of the 1,450-bed prison could begin as early as summer. He promised that the $147-million prison would be a “good neighbor.”

“Residents will be able to take pride in this facility,” Rowland said in a statement. “We look forward to a long and cooperative relationship.”

But there were no signs of cooperation Wednesday--only more of the anger and distrust that have characterized the five-year fight over the project.

Democratic Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, who represents the southeast corner of downtown where the 20-acre prison site is located, said Rowland’s action is “not the end” of the controversy. She said opponents would file suit in Superior Court within 30 days.

“The process has been unfair and illegal,” Roybal-Allard said. “The state has totally ignored the impact that the prison is going to have on the community.”

Aurora Castillo, a spokeswoman for Mothers of East L.A., a grass-roots group that has fought the prison, said state approval of the facility was never in doubt because state officials “had no intention whatsoever of listening to the community.”

“I think this whole thing is a farce,” she said. “We have opposed the prison with respect and dignity and we will continue to do so. We do not want our community turned into a penal colony.”

Gov. George Deukmejian proposed the prison in 1985, citing the fact that Los Angeles County accounts for about 40% of state prison inmates but has no prison. The facility is to be built on an industrial lot near Washington Boulevard and Santa Fe Avenue.

The fate of the Los Angeles prison is tied to a similar facility planned for Lancaster. The two projects were linked after Democratic lawmakers from Los Angeles complained that Republican constituents in rural parts of the county ought to accept an equal share of the prison burden.

Under a legislative deal worked out, neither prison could be occupied until construction has begun on the other, said Mike Van Winkle, a spokesman for the Corrections Department.

Van Winkle said plans for the Lancaster site are moving smoothly and should be completed soon. He also said the department is confident the Los Angeles prison plan could withstand a legal challenge.

“We have done everything by the book, everything that has been asked of us by the Legislature and the special legislation that was passed for this project,” he said.