A new women's prison in southwestern North Dakota is running $228,000 in deficits for its operations and medical costs, and it hopes to negotiate higher state payments in the next two years, its administrator says.

Medical expenses alone for the New England prison, which now houses about 90 inmates, have exceeded state payments by about $140,000 from November 2003 through September, said Colby Braun, the prison's interim director.

Braun told members of the Legislature's interim Budget Committee on Government Services on Wednesday that he hopes the shortfall will abate once the prison negotiates lower medical payment rates with St. Joseph's Hospital and Health Center in Dickinson.

The New England prison, which is a converted Roman Catholic boarding school and convent, has a contract to house female inmates in North Dakota's prison system.

It began taking minimum-security prisoners last November, more than three months late, and started accepting medium-security inmates only last August. The delays prompted the prison's board of directors to demand that its administrator, Norbert Sickler, take early retirement.

Braun told lawmakers on Wednesday that the prison has incurred $465,049 in inmate medical expenses from November 2003 through September 2004, while getting $324,997 in state payments.

The New England prison's contract with the state includes a $62.23 daily housing rate for each prisoner, and $15.50 in daily reimbursements for medical costs.

The contract says the New England prison will absorb the first $50,000 of any medical cost overrun, with the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation making up any shortfall beyond that.