PA Moves Ahead With New Prison
Pennsylvania DOC has announced it soon will begin the process of building a new, medium-security prison in Centre County to house up to 2,000 inmates. It would be built on land that is part of the State Correctional Institution at Rockview.
“We’re building this facility to manage a growing number of inmates, but we’re doing so with an eye on costs,” Department of General Services Secretary James P. Creedon said in a news release. “We’re approaching this project in a cost-effective manner that will secure the greatest value for the state’s taxpayers, while ensuring the completed facilities are efficient and yield long-term savings to the state.”
“Pennsylvania’s existing correctional institutions are bursting at the seams,” said Corrections Secretary Jeffrey A. Beard in the news release. “The new beds this facility offers are necessary as the population of our prison system has grown by 21 percent over the past six years from 37,995 in 2001 to more than 49,300 today. Looking down the road, we expect an average growth rate of 4 percent each year through 2012″ …
The project is expected to be completed within three years and will share warehousing and administrative functions with the existing prison to minimize costs. The new prison is expected to employ approximately 650 people. The Rockview project is part of a broader state construction initiative that will add nearly 9,000 beds to the state’s prison system. Other projects include new prisons in Fayette and Montgomery counties, as well as four additional housing units in Crawford, Forest, Indiana and Northumberland counties.