MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Federal Bureau of Prisons announcing Thursday that it’s closing a number of minimum security prisons including the longtime prison in Morgantown.
FPC Morgantown, known locally as the Kennedy Prison, is located on Green Bag Road. It’s a minimum security prison for mostly white collar crime.
The prison has about 400 inmates and 150 workers.
The FBOP said those inmates and workers will be transferred to the maximum security prison in Hazelton, which is less than 30 miles away.
“The FBOP faces several significant challenges, including a critical staffing shortage, crumbling infrastructure, and limited budgetary resources,” the agency said in a news release. “FBOP leadership is committed to addressing these challenges through decisive and strategic action.”
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito said the agency did not give members of Congress the heads up that these moves were coming. She said it needs further review.
“Their response is that folks are not going to lose their jobs they’re going to go to Hazelton but there are probably reasons that folks aren’t working at Hazelton now,” Capito said. “I think we’re going to need some more time here.”
Capito also questioned the move being made so late in the Biden administration.
“We’re down here in December and the administration is making a decision to close a prison camp that’s going to cost 150, mostly West Virginians, their jobs. I don’t know what the rush is. We had no indication this was coming,” Capito said.
The Morgantown used to be called the Kennedy Youth Center. It was named after U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy and dedicated in December 1968.
The FBOP said the announced changes will take about nine months to complete.