State must run prison, panel says

FRANKFORT, KY - When it finally opens, the state's much-delayed new prison in Elliott County must be run by the Corrections Department, not by a private company, under terms of a preliminary budget bill approved last night by a House committee.

The prohibition -- meant to block Gov. Ernie Fletcher from privatizing the $92 million, 961-bed prison -- was also in last year's budget bill, but lawmakers never passed a final version.