NEW PRISON COULD COST $230 MILLION TO BUILD UNDER RELEASED PROPOSAL

LINCOLN- A new 1,500-bed prison could be operating as soon as 2026 if the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services can get the nod and the money from the state Legislature. However the newly released proposal comes with a heavy price tag of $230 million, plus $34 million annually in operational costs.

Director Scott Frakes announced Monday progress on the proposal to build more prison beds to ease overcrowding in the Nebraska system, which is among the most crowded in the country. Frakes said the proposal has shifted from a public- and private lease-purchase plan to a state-funded option because of the much higher lease-purchase cost, which could have reached more than $700 million over the next 30 years.  

Frakes laid out the need and plan Monday for the approximately 450,000-square-foot prison, which most likely would be built somewhere in or around the Lincoln or Omaha area, but could be near a smaller community with a short or easy commute to a larger city.It would house about 400 maximum-security, 512 medium-security and 600 minimum-security inmates in a complex on about 100 to 160 acres. 

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