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About 2,500 inmates transferring to new Pennsylvania prison | TribLIVE.com
Pennsylvania

About 2,500 inmates transferring to new Pennsylvania prison

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
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A tour group enters block D in the west section of the State Correctional Institution at Phoenix in Collegeville, Pa. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma, File)
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The first phase of transferring more than 2,500 inmates from the 89-year-old state prison at Graterford to the long-delayed $400 million State Correctional Institution at Phoenix prison in Collegeville, Pa., began Wednesday, July 11, 2018, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. (David Swanson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
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A control center in the west section of the State Correctional Institution at Phoenix in Collegeville, Pa. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma, File)
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A housing unit in the west section of the State Correctional Institution at Phoenix in Collegeville, Pa. The first phase of transferring more than 2,500 inmates from the 89-year-old state prison at Graterford to the long-delayed $400 million SCI Phoenix prison began Wednesday, July 11, 2018, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, which plans to bus hundreds of inmates a day to the new prison facility about a mile down the road until all are relocated. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma, File)

COLLEGEVILLE — Over 2,500 inmates at an 89-year-old Pennsylvania prison are being transferred to a brand-new, long-delayed facility about a mile down the road.

The Department of Corrections says the first phase of transfers began just after 9 a.m. Wednesday from the state prison at Graterford to the sprawling, $400 million complex at SCI Phoenix.

Several hundred inmates will be moved each day by bus, for however long it takes to complete the operation.

A spokeswoman says the roads between the facilities about 35 miles northwest of Philadelphia are closed to the public during the transfer.

The new prison can house about 3,830 male inmates. It also has a separate, 192-bed female transition unit outside the perimeter.

Pennsylvania has 25 state prisons after closing three in the past five years.