Workers have been replacing bricks and repairing the wall of the New Hampshire State Prison for Men on North State Street in Concord as part of an ongoing perimeter security project.

The prison, parts of which date back to 1878, has a number of maintenance issues and state officials would like to replace it with a new men’s prison.  A bill before the Senate (SB476) would allow borrowing up to $40 million “for architectural, engineering, programming, and design and construction documents” for such work.  

The current work is part of a $1.47 million project being done by Integrated Facilities Construction Corp. of Medford, Mass.

The November 2023 request to the Executive Council to spend existing capital funds on the work said, “The perimeter walls and detection systems date back to the early 1970's and require continuous and costly repairs. Electronic detection systems are antiquated, making it difficult to perform repairs and find replacement parts.”

As part of the project, “Repairs to the historic brick perimeter wall include repointing brick mortar joints, removing abandoned conduit, rerouting some existing, active conduit and improving the razor wire post stability mounted on top of the wall. The existing historic coping on the top of the wall will be sealed to prevent water from entering the brick wall cavity, extending the life of the brick wall and razor wire support posts,” the request said.

A new women’s prison was opened in 2018, located behind the men’s prison.