CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) - The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is proposing a third state prison near Cumberland.
The Cumberland Times-News reported Monday that Secretary Gregg Hershberger outlined the $15 million project in an email to local state legislators.
Hershberger says the 140-bed, minimum-security facility would be built between North Branch Correctional Institution and Western Correctional Institution in Crespatown, south of Cumberland. Each of those maximum-security prisons houses more than 1,300 inmates.
Hershberger says the proposed facility would reduce contraband issues by enabling minimum-security inmates to work on road crews and other public works projects without going in and out of a maximum-security prison.
He says that if the project is budgeted in the next General Assembly session, planning and design work could begin in November 2015.