Eclectic Communications Key to Growth Industry

Eclectic Communications Inc., a 16-year-old Ventura concern, is prospering as a key player in an emerging growth industry: the operation of prison facilities by private contractors.

Eclectic, whose unlikely name was suggested by a prison inmate, has just won a $1.7-million follow-on contract from the Federal Bureau of Prisons to continue operating a work-furlough center in Oakland.

In addition to such programs, Eclectic operates minimum- and medium-security prisons throughout California for federal, state and local agencies, according to Marv Wiebe, vice president for finance and administration.

He said the company is active in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco counties, among others. Mostly, the firm runs small facilities having 300 or fewer inmates.

Even though its corporate headquarters has been in Ventura since Eclectic was founded in 1977, the privately held firm has no operations in Ventura County. “We tend to be needed in more urbanized areas,” Wiebe said.

In most cases, he noted, Eclectic is asked to build as well as staff an institution. “We can usually get a facility built faster than a state or federal agency can--and we arrange our own financing, which often avoids the need for a bond issue.”

As for riots and escapes, Wiebe says Eclectic’s record is good. “We’ve had some incidents, but nothing I’d call a riot. As for escapes, there have been a few tries. That usually happens when a facility is new and prisoners want to test it.”

Eclectic doesn’t disclose its revenues. “We expect to grow as the prison population explodes. The California Department of Corrections, for instance, has 116,000 inmates now. In two or three years, that’s expected to reach 150,000.”

Wiebe said Eclectic’s name was suggested to Art McDonald, its founder, president and chief executive. “Art is a licensed clinical social worker,” Wiebe said.