The State Correctional Institution Graterford was locked down Wednesday, 89 years after it opened its doors, to allow the safe movement of inmates to SCI Phoenix, Graterford’s $400 million replacement, on the same 1,700-acre site in Montgomery County. The move, which officials had long projected would be complete by June 30, was delayed for unspecified reasons, writes Samantha Melamed at philly.com.
[uam_ad id=”54865″]
The Department of Corrections said in a statement that “several hundred inmates a day” would be relocated but did not say when the move was expected to be complete.
Still unresolved is a dispute over the final price tag for the project: The state Department of General Services has said that contractor Walsh Heery owes $35,000 per day in damages for delays in the prison’s completion. Those fines, accrued since a November 2015, would add up to a $30 million refund owed taxpayers.
To read the full story, click here.
[uam_ad id=”54875″]
