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Goose Creek Prison Nears Completion

August 22, 2011|By Rebecca Palsha | Channel 2 News

WASILLA, Alaska — Goose Creek Correction Center is almost finished. About a week from now Nesser Construction, the company building the prison, will finish all the work except for some minor touchups and turn the building over to the borough and Department of Corrections.

Construction began in March of 2009 after Senate Bill 65 was passed by the Alaska State Legislature in 2004.

The prison is designed to house up to 1,500 inmates. About 30 prisoners are expected to be housed there by March. The small group will serve as a training group for the facilities and staff.

Last legislative session, lawmakers wanted an audit of the project after they saw how much it would cost to run the prison.

According to Rustin Krafft, the purchasing officer for the Mat-Su Borough, the construction contract is $240 million and it will cost $70 million to run the prison every year.

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Krafft says that despite the high costs, the state will also get more than 350 jobs from the deal.

"When you send a check out of state to pay for a prisoner to be housed in Arizona, Colorado or anywhere, that money is gone," Krafft said.

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