Corrections administrators are readying North Dakota lawmakers to consider a $29 million prison project, which includes demolishing an ancient cell block and constructing new buildings on the penitentiary grounds.

The proposal would expand the main state prison's ability to house troublesome inmates and others who are elderly or seriously ill. Thirty-nine penitentiary inmates are serving life prison sentences without possibility of parole, and the average age of the prison's population is rising, said Elaine Little, the state corrections director.

The project would add about 120 beds to the capacity at the main penitentiary, which now has about 520 beds. Gov. John Hoeven has not decided whether to include the project in his budget recommendations to the 2005 Legislature.

Hoeven declined to do so two years ago, and the idea of doing major construction at the state penitentiary has been on the wish list of corrections officials for years.

Lawmakers set aside $60,000 to study the idea, and Jeffrey Goodale, an architect who is working on the project, briefed members of the Legislature's interim Budget Section on its details Tuesday.

The Budget Section is an interim committee, which includes legislative leaders and members of the North Dakota House and Senate's appropriations committees. The committees will be in charge of writing the next two-year budget for state government and will review any prison construction proposals.

The cell block that is proposed for demolition is almost 100 years old. Goodale said the building is substandard and that the prison's infirmary and medical facilities have a number of shortcomings that could make the Corrections Department vulnerable to lawsuits.

"There's a lack of space for total beds available. There's a lack of privacy, and … that's exposure to liability and lawsuits," he said. "There is no disabled access. In fact, a stretcher, if somebody needs to be on a stretcher, has to be carried up three narrow flights of stairs."

Hoeven said the project will be reviewed in context with other corrections priorities before he decides whether it goes into his legislative budget proposal. Other initiatives include continuing the operation of a women's prison in New England and a proposed regional jail and drug treatment center in Rugby.

"We're going to look at all of those, in terms of how we handle the number of inmates that we have, and then we'll have to make some decisions … about how we work all of that together," Hoeven said.