Suwannee County Prison Project Delayed

LIVE OAK, Fla.?Suwannee County won’t be getting a prison after all?at least, not this year. The new budget signed by Gov. Jeb Bush does not include any money for the construction of a new state prison that was supposed to bring jobs to this county. Instead, the money will be used to add more beds to existing prisons throughout the state.

However, the prison project could still be built sometime in the future. The land has been earmarked for a new prison since planning began in the early 1990s, although an environmental protection group has argued that the site is a wetlands area. The state's prison population is expected to hit more than 91,000 by 2008, so a new facility could become a necessity.