Flaws fixed at new, empty state building
by The Associated Press

ST. PETER -- A new state nursing home for prisoners could finally open in October, three years after it was projected to be ready for aging convicts.

The St. Peter Regional Treatment Center, approved by the Minnesota Legislature in 2005, remained empty after numerous building codes were discovered at the newly built facility.

State taxpayers could be saddled with the cost of some of the repairs because state officials wrote the building specifications in ways that didn't meet code.

Several area lawmakers, including Rep. Terry Morrow of St. Peter, say they're frustrated by the lack of a good explanation for why nearly two dozen health department citations and 14 fire code violations weren't identified until April, nine months after the contractor had completed construction.