FERRIDAY – Almost 200 people gathered Thursday at the Concordia Parish Correctional Facility for the grand opening of a 46,000-square-foot expansion of the prison.

&uot;It’s a great feeling to be able to bring a facility like this to the parish,&uot; Sheriff Randy Maxwell said before the event, which included tours of the facility and a symbolic ribbon cutting in the current prison’s community room. &uot;This will employ 50 to 60 people, which is a boost to a parish that has such high unemployment,&uot;&160;he said. The expansion – along with the existing facility, opened in 1997 – is expected to have a direct economic impact of $6 million a year and an indirect impact of $42 million.

The expansion is located next to the current facility on Louisiana 15 near Ferriday. The first state prisoners should be brought to the new facility early next week, once inspections are complete, Maxwell said.

B.A.S. Construction of Rayville is building the expansion at their own cost and will own the building and the land on which it sits, but the Sheriff’s Office will operate it. &uot;This is being done at no expense to the parish,&uot; Maxwell said.

Other industries want financial incentives to locate in an area, but B.A.S. &uot;is making an investment of $6 million without any strings attached, without asking for favors or tax breaks,&uot; Maxwell said in his speech. &uot;They just wanted the opportunity to be here.&uot;

Billy McConnell, co-owner of B.A.S., noted that completion of the project was delayed by two months due to wet weather.

&uot;So we’re elated to have this finished. We tried to take the best of the current facility and improve on it with this new project,&uot; said McConnell, whose firm also built the original prison.

The expansion includes eight prisoner dorms with four control rooms overlooking them; a multi-purpose room; expanded kitchen and storage facilities; and four recreational yards.

The sheriff’s office is planning to eventually use the new facility to house prisoners not participating in drug rehabilitation programs.

The older prison, which now houses almost 400 prisoners, will house prisoners in drug rehab programs. Both parts of the prison will be minimum-security.

Educational programs, such as GED classes and job training, will take place at the expansion just as they do at the current prison.

&uot;We believe in rehabilitating people, not just warehousing them,&uot; Maxwell said.

&uot;And that success is evident in lower (repeat offender) rates,&uot; Johnny Creed, assistant secretary of the Louisiana Department of Corrections, said during a speech at the event.

Such rehabilitation &uot;is a challenge,&uot; said Warden Russell Butler, who will supervise both the prison and the expansion. &uot;But this (expansion) is a great thing for this parish. There’s no other way to put it.&uot;