Plans for new northwest Indiana prison facility moving forward
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The Indiana Department of Correction is moving ahead with plans for a new, $1.2 billion prison facility on the site of the existing Westville Correctional Facility. The DOC says the 4,200-bed facility will combine and replace the WCF and the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.
DOC Commissioner Christina Reagle gave an update on the plan Friday to the State Budget Committee, which authorized the funding for the project.
Reagle said closing the Indiana State Prison would save the state about a quarter of the cost of building the new one.
“It’s outdated like Westville is, and it doesn’t come without emergency repairs on on an annual basis totaling about $1 million to $2 million a year,” Reagle said. “We have more than $380 million in planned capital at that site, and the annual operating [cost] is approximately $45 million. The annual operating savings alone of closing the Indiana State Prison would create a payback of less than 20 years on this project, and we avoid nearly $400 million in capital asks.”
The WCF was originally built in 1951 as a state-run mental health facility. Following renovations and additions, the facility was transformed into a prison and further expanded in 1991.
The Indiana State Prison originally opened in 1860 as the state’s second prison. State Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Lizton, who chairs the committee, said a recent visit to the prison convinced him that consolidating the prison into the new facility is necessary, particularly with the expected cost savings.
“We avoid that cost by combining the two prisons, closing the two and having it at one facility,” he said. “That’s what sold me.”
The project was originally approved in the 2021 biennial budget at a cost of over $362 million. An additional $800 million was approved in this year’s budget, the need for which was attributed to inflation and supply chain challenges, according to Reagle.
“We didn’t change the design. We’re still in the original scope from when we had asked for that money in 2021,” she said.
The new facility will include security upgrades, expanded health care and education services, recidivism programming, and improved operational efficiency. The DOC said renovations of the existing prisons would not be cost effective and wouldn’t address many of the needs included in the new facility.
Reagle said about 416 people currently work at the Indiana State Prison, which is about 15 miles away from the WCF, and no jobs will be lost as a result of the consolidation.
Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana cite data that show there were 2,329 men incarcerated at the Indiana State Prison and 2,284 men in Westville as of May 1, for a total of more than 4,500.
Construction on the new prison is slated to begin later this summer and take about four years to complete. Reagle said site work has already begun, and sewer and water systems are currently being connected to the site.
It was not made clear what would happen with the former WCF and Indiana State Prison facilities once the new prison building is operational.