This news should make it easier for inmates from the northeast to stay in touch with families once sentenced. Current US Marshall's pretrial detainees are located in county jails all over Maine. I hope they dont just start shipping everyone just accross the state line as this will make face to face communications with clients even more difficult.
From the Manchester Union Leader:
BERLIN – Nearly six years after city officials floated the idea of locating a federal prison here, design and construction contracts were awarded yesterday to firms in New York, according to U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH.
"This is good news," Berlin City Manager Pat McQueen said. "It has been long anticipated and long awaited."
The contracts were awarded to Bell Constructors and Heery Construction Company, a joint venture out of Rochester, N.Y. More than $230 million has been secured for the project over the past five years.
The Bureau of Prisons has planned a 1,280-bed, medium-security prison on property near the New Hampshire state prison in the northeast corner of the city, near the Milan town line. When completed, it is expected to employ 300 people.
Word of the contracts came nearly a year to the day after Berlin's pulp mill, which fueled the local economy for more than a century, shuttered its doors forever, taking with it some 250 jobs.
"This is far better news," McQueen said.
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