The Federal Bureau of Prisons says the majority of the 280 people working on the federal prison construction in Berlin, New Hampshire are from Coos County and that nearly 2 million dollars in goods and services have been bought from businesses in the county.
The head of the state Employment Security office in Berlin Mark Belanger says the federal prison construction project has helped offset some of the impact of the paper mill closings. Over the last seven years, Coos County has lost 16-hundred manufacturing jobs.
Site work on the medium security prison got under way last fall. It is expected to be completed by 2010.