The Corrections Emergency Response Team stands at ease Monday outside the $208 million Bledsoe County Correctional Complex. Inmates will begin occupying the complex in January 2013.BLEDSOE COUNTY CORRECTIONAL COMPLEX
$208 million: Total project cost$40 million: Annual operating budget425: Estimated new jobs430,000: Total square footage300: Minimum-security beds1,024: Medium-security beds192: Close-custody beds24: Maximum-security beds1,540: Total new prison capacity2,511: Total capacity of Bledsoe’s new and existing prisonsSource: Tennessee Department of Correction
PIKEVILLE, Tenn. — Bledsoe County’s state inmate population will swell in January by more than 1,500 prisoners after Tuesday’s opening of a $208 million prison that will bring 425 jobs to the area.
State and local officials on Tuesday toured the 430,000-plus square-foot Bledsoe County Correctional Complex that Warden Bruce Westbrooks called “the ultimate in innovative security for our century.” Construction began in spring 2010.
“This new facility will allow us to further achieve our mission while supplying jobs to Pikeville and surrounding communities,” Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Derrick Schofield told more than two dozen state and local officials on hand for tours and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Schofield said the new prison will serve as the new “diagnostic facility” for the state starting with the first inmates.