Committee: Tear down and rebuild Lima prison

COLUMBUS (AP) — The state should tear down a shuttered northwest Ohio prison and start over, a committee has recommended.

A committee charged with the future of the Lima Correctional Institution said Friday that officials should raze the existing building and consider a new, 500-bed prison on the site. The committee also recommended adding an additional 1,500 beds at other sites.

Then-Gov. Bob Taft closed the minimum-security prison that housed about 1,500 inmates in 2004 to save $25 million a year. Lawmakers then named a committee to study the site and potential uses for the former insane asylum.

A consultant’s study this week said it would cost 21 times more to reopen the prison than to tear it down. Leaky roofs, buckling floors, dangerous asbestos and mold would cost $184 million to fix. That compares with $8.6 million to tear it down.

By contrast, renovating three buildings on the property, rather than the entire facility, would cost just $9.1 million. That would allow the state to house 600 low-security prisoners there.

The committee must report full recommendations to Gov. Ted Strickland and the legislature by April 1.

Lima leaders lobbied hard to have the state reopen the prison. They said the closure cost the city more than $25 million a year.