BATON ROUGE - Two Louisiana prisons soon will get unusual additions to their grounds - golf holes for use by employees.

Wardens at the prisons argue that the facilities will give personnel more options for physical fitness training and will provide inmates job training as groundskeepers and caddies for when they leave prison.

Louisiana State Penitentiary, the state's maximum-security prison at Angola, is one of the two adding golf facilities. The other is Avoyelles Correctional Facility.

Although most inmates at Angola never will leave, Louisiana State Penitentiary Warden Burl Cain said some prisoners do return to free society, justifying the cost of the golf holes, he said.

Explaining the project at Angola as a means of training inmates in golf course maintenance, Cain said, "90 percent (of inmates) die there, but 10 percent don't. We're focusing on the 10 percent who leave."

The nine-hole course was begun two years ago and is expected to be ready for play by spring, he said.

And rather than use taxpayer money, the $80,000 to cover the cost of the course was generated entirely through the employees' recreation fund from concessions sold at the annual inmate rodeo and other events.

In contrast, Baron Kaylo, warden at Avoyelles Correctional Facility, said the four-hole course at his facility is being constructed with a combination of personnel activity funds and taxpayer dollars. "I wouldn't call it a course. It's four holes."

The Avoyelles project was conceived as a means of combining vocational training and personnel fitness, Kaylo said.

"It does sound strange, doesn't it?" he said. "Some people are saying (former Gov.) Edwin (W.) Edwards and his son are going off to play golf (at federal 'country club' prison)."

Despite the image, inmates will not be allowed to play on the courses they are building, the wardens said.

Kaylo said Avoyelles has had a vocational course in horticulture for some time and even constructed a golf green to standards set by the Professional Golf Association inside the prison as part of the program.

"Turf management is already a part of their curriculum, but they had no way to practice it," he said.

The four holes on land outside the fence will give inmates preparing for work after prison an opportunity to practice the turf management skills they are being taught, Kaylo said, adding that the prisoners allowed to work on the course will be trusties nearing the end of their sentences.

The course, which has cost $10,000 to $11,000, will benefit prison employees by giving them another means to exercise, he said. "Part of the reason for the golf course is an extension of their fitness program." Employees, who will be allowed to play golf for free, previously used self-generated funds to buy the exercise equipment they use for fitness training, Kaylo said.

As for the benefits to inmates, he said, "there are increasing opportunities in golf course maintenance. And turf management isn't just golf courses. It can also be used around houses and in landscaping as well."

Kaylo shied away from saying whether nonprison employees will be allowed to play on the four-hole course. But he said it is not being built to high quality standards, suggesting that it is unlikely to attract avid golfers.

Cain said, "If someone wants to come (to Angola) and play, they'll be able to come there and pay a fee that will raise money for upkeep of the course." Similarly, Angola employees likely will be charged a "small fee," enough to pay for upkeep.

About 600 people live in Angola, the village that is on the prison grounds, Cain said. "We've got to do anything we can to keep people busy to try to keep them there."

While Cain does not play golf, he said that he was surprised at the number of correctional officers who do play and that they leave the prison to do it. By having a golf course in the village outside the fence, the state benefits by having trained personnel at the prison to respond to emergencies, he said.

"All of the employees who live at Angola perform more than one function." People who live in state-owned housing at the prison are required to participate in extracurricular activities such as the Fire Department, chase team or tactical response team, Cain said.

Although the average sentence for an Angola inmate is 88 years, the prison gets inmates with shorter sentences, such as troublemakers transferred from other prisons, he said. After going through "our discipline program," these inmates often decide they want to learn a trade to pursue after release, Cain said.

But farming is not of much interest to convicts from cities who expect to return to their former homes upon release. "They said 'There's no corn in New Orleans. Why are we learning about corn?'" Cain said, referring to Angola's farm program that produces food for the prison.

"There's golf courses and gardens in City Park (where horticulture skills can be applied). They like that."

And, Cain said, "if somebody decides they want to learn this (golf course maintenance), it may be that we can get them transferred to Angola to do this."