Ground was broken in Miami County on Wednesday for a new state prison that will house up to 1,400 male inmates, costing taxpayers $107 million to build and another $25 million annually to operate.
The Miami County Correctional Facility at the Grissom Aeroplex, near Peru in north-central Indiana, will confine 1,200 inmates in medium-security cell blocks plus 200 in minimum-security dormitories.
There are plans for a second phase with cells for another 1,200 medium-security prisoners, all of whom will be adult males.
The first phase is scheduled for completion in the summer of 1999, and the complex eventually is expected to be Miami County’s largest employer, bringing 500 jobs to the site, once occupied by Grissom Air Force Base, which closed in 1994.
The jobs will be tied to custody, food and education services, medical care, counseling, recreation and administration. Many local officials campaigned to have the prison located at Grissom.
