As the number of women doing time continues to grow,Bucks County prison officials are looking at the possibility of building a larger and more secure facility that could handle about 30 percent more inmates in the coming years.
If approved, the plan also seeks to convert about half of the women’s minimum security facility on Almshouse Road and Rt. 611 into a medium-security facility.
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“The female unit has been undersized for a long time,” Bill Plantier, Bucks County Director of Corrections, explained on Friday.
“Our (current) facility was built in 1985. It was never anticipated the number of females we would have to house,” Plantier added.
The female population currently houses about 130 women on any given day, which includes both women on work release and those housed in the more-secure incarceration wing.
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The new facility would be able to handle an additional 50 or 60 female inmates, Plantier said.
USA Architects along with Carroll Engineering are conducting the feasibility study, and will submit the plans and possible costs to county commissioners, Plantier said.
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It will be about a year before a final decision is made. County commissioners voted to approve the feasibility study about six months ago.
