A $32 million expansion of the Mohawk Correctional Facility in Rome, N.Y., was designed to be safer and more cost-effective, according to an article on the Utica Observer-Dispatch website.

By updating the Walsh Regional Medical Unit and by providing more beds, it will become less likely that inmates will have to be transported out of the prison on a daily basis to be treated for more serious ailments, prison officials said. 

“Security wise, it’s much better to have them cared for inside of a correctional facility instead of an outside hospital, if possible,” said Paul Gonyea, superintendent of Mohawk.

The average stay at the Walsh facility is 29 months, but some inmates could spend their full prison sentence being treated at the facility.

It was the first of five medical facilities built in New York to provide care for inmates with medical issues beyond what is available in prison infirmaries.

Because the Walsh facility is maximum-security, the beds will be available to inmates from any of the state’s male prisons.

Read the article.