Funding earmarked for a new federal prison in New Hampshire could be diverted to Illinois if Attorney General Eric Holder gets his way, according to Republican Rep. Charlie Bass.
According to the
Manchester Union Leader, the New Hampshire congressman is concerned that Holder wants to use some $14 million already in the pipes for the new Federal Correctional Institute at Berlin to purchase a state-owned prison in Illinois and turn it into a federal facility.
If the reprogramming of the money goes through, Bass aide John W. Billings said federal prison operations in Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia could also be impacted.
“At this point, Attorney General Holder's attempt to reprogram funds to purchase the state-owned prison in Illinois has not been successful,” Billings said in a statement.
Construction on the Berlin prison was actually completed in 2010 at a cost of $276 million. But Bass is concerned the loss of current funding from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons could affect the facility's opening, which is scheduled for Aug. 30, and disrupt efforts to complete the hiring of guards and other personnel by then.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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