Adult females incarcerated at the Indiana Women’s Prison (IWP) moved over the weekend into their new quarters on the west side of Indianapolis, the facility previously known as the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility (IJCF). The transfer of 449 female offenders occurred with no incidents or security issues.
The move is the second step in the Indiana Department of Correction’s (IDOC) comprehensive Facility Forward initiative, which is designed to enhance prison capacity, maximize current state property and assets, decrease spending through cost savings, and increase overall efficiencies. Relocating IWP to the grounds of the much larger and under-utilized IJCF will manage the foreseeable growth in the female offender population.
Scheduled to begin in the coming weeks, the next step in the Facility Forward plan will be the transition of the Plainfield Re-entry Educational Facility (PREF) located in Plainfield to the grounds of the former Indiana Women’s Prison on the east side of Indianapolis. Opened in 2006, PREF is the first of its kind in the country, focusing on education and vocational skill building during the last six to 24 months of an offender’s incarceration. Following that move, the IDOC will open the Short Term Offender Program (STOP) on the grounds of PREF. The STOP facility will be designed and commissioned to address the needs and case management of offenders committed to the IDOC for less than one year.
“I am very pleased that half of the Facility Forward initiative has been completed without incident,” said IDOC Commissioner Edwin G. Buss. “Because of the tremendous teamwork and support of many stakeholders, Facility Forward is already allowing the IDOC to better prepare for the future.”
Once completely implemented, Facility Forward will result in the IDOC gaining almost 2,100 beds and will save the state of Indiana nearly $200 million.
