VIDALIA, La. — A prison construction firm will soon begin building a $6 million expansion of the Concordia Parish Correctional Facility, Sheriff Randy Maxwell announced Wednesday.

The building will be paid for and built by B.A.S. Construction of Rayville, which will own the new facility and the property on which it will be built.

But the Concordia Sheriff’s Parish Office will have complete control of its operation, Maxwell said. &uot;This will be done at no expense to the taxpayers,&uot; he said.

Maxwell said the parish receives $23 per day per prisoner. If the expansion helps the sheriff’s office run the facility more efficiently, any money leftover will be paid to B.A.S. Construction.

The new facility will hold about 380 prisoners, the same as the current prison, and will have a similar design. Once the new facility is built, tentative plans call for the existing prison to be used to house inmates involved in drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs.

The expansion would be used for inmates who did not qualify for the rehab programs, Maxwell said.

Maxwell said the expansion will double the size of the correctional facility, which opened in 1997, but the exact square footage was not available Wednesday.

&uot;They’ll start building as the ground dries up,&uot; said Maxwell, adding construction should take 10 months.

The existing prison was built with a $1 million state grant and about $3.3 million in financing from area banks. It employs more than 50 people and has a $250,000 a year impact on the local economy, according to sheriff’s office figures.