Lakes Region Facility History
History of the Lakes Region Facility, operated from October 1991 until June 2009
Inmate overcrowding issues of the 1980s and the need to develop goal-orientated programs resulted in the opening of the Lakes Region Facility in Laconia in October 1991.
The site of the new facility was the recently closed Laconia State School for the Developmentally Disabled. There were multiple buildings on the state-owned property laid out in a campus-style setting. The infrastructure was already in place, thus the need to use additional state funding was drastically reduced. Negotiations with the City of Laconia proved to be a challenge for the NH-DOC, as local residents and city officials were reluctant to accept a prison. The institution was approved as a temporary measure. However, a series of stipulations including implementing a cap of 300 inmates were embraced to allow for the facility to open.
In 1997, LRF became a permanent facility. The 300 cap was increased to 500 with the capability of expanding to 600 beds in the future.
The buildings, many of them built in the 19th century, had been vacant and in disrepair. An inmate labor force was responsible for nearly all of the major renovations. Consequently, upon completion, both male and female inmates would be housed at LRF to participate exclusively in substance abuse, educational, self-improvement, and other programs.
In 2004 the Department announced that the Lakes Region Facility would be converted into a transitional facility for minimum security inmates who would soon be released. The Department removed the female offenders and split them between the NH State Prison for Women and Shea Farm Halfway House in Concord to house only male offenders. The Department also implemented a Parole Violators Program.
As the Department was preparing its operating budget for the 2010-2011 biennium it was determined that in order to meet the parameters set forth by Governor John H. Lynch, a prison facility would have to close. In early 2009, LRF was identified as the least efficiently operating facility and a plan was implemented to close it on June 30, 2009