Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas legislative committee is preparing to review a plan for building a new state prison in Lansing and its meeting could prove important to the project’s future.
A joint committee on budget issues is scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon for an update from Corrections Secretary Joe Norwood.
The final go-ahead must come from the governor and legislative leaders by early January.
House Majority Leader Don Hineman says he will wait until after the budget committee’s meeting to decide whether he’ll support the project.
The Department of Corrections wants to hire giant private-prison company CoreCivic to build a prison in Lansing for 2,400 inmates to replace the state’s oldest and largest prison there. The state would run the prison but lease it from CoreCivic for 20 years before owning it.