This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
State officials are set to decide this week on a $36 million design contract to rebuild the New Hampshire State Prison for Men next to its current site in Concord.
Meanwhile, some city officials want it relocated entirely out of the state capital.
Moving the prison is a “wishlist” item for At-large Councilor Nathan Fennessy, one that gained support from elected leaders at a joint meeting between the City Council and Concord’s state representatives earlier this year.
“Move the prison somewhere else. Move it somewhere else,” Fennessy said. “Now, I know that may not happen, but that should be the message: Move it somewhere else.”
The prison, first constructed in 1878 and expanded in the 1980s, is in dire straights with an aging infrastructure and outdated design that state leaders say pose risks to personal safety and open the state to liability. The Executive Council is weighing a contract to begin designing the rebuild on a large plot of wooded land that stretches back from the men’s prison on North State Street. The women’s prison is also located there.
If they weren’t owned by the state, the 700 acres occupied by the prison complex and surrounding land would bring in local tax revenue. City leaders say that land could instead be a commercial development or new housing, and they lament that the prison has an outsized impact on municipal emergency services.
Moving the prison out of Concord is highly unlikely. The state’s public works director said last month that there’s “no other location” on their radar. The commissioner of the Department of Corrections, Bill Hart, wasn’t available for an interview.
As both a taxpayer and a councilor, Fennessy questions the rebuild — estimated to be the largest capital project in state history, with a pricetag of up to $700 million. Not only does he believe it’s too expensive on the lot the state has picked, but he feels the prison places a strain on city finances.
Several other councilors are in line with Fennessy.
Concord, they say, gives more than it gets.
Outsized impact
The men’s prison tied as the second most frequent user of Concord’s emergency services last year, according to documents provided by the city. The fire department logged 228 responses to 281 N. State St. in 2025 — that’s one response every 1.6 days.
“Virtually every day we have personnel going up there,” said At-large Councilor Fred Keach. “That’s a burden to our community, and I really think the state bears some responsibility to help us with those costs, so either they step up to the plate financially or, you know, maybe explore locating it someplace other than Concord.”
The men’s prison ties with the Havenwood Nursing Home and is second only to the Pleasant View Nursing Center, which logged 321 responses. Another state-owned facility, New Hampshire Hospital, was the fifth-highest user at 140 responses.
Concord Fire Chief John Chisholm was not available for an interview prior to publication.
The State of New Hampshire pays Concord $125,000 each year for emergency services at its properties, which evens out to roughly $238.55 per call. Throughout most of 2025, with data up to Dec. 14, the Concord Fire Department responded to state-owned properties and facilities 524 times, according to information presented to the city’s Public Safety Board in January.
City leaders estimate the state’s contribution is well below the actual cost of providing emergency support.
While they didn’t point to any specific examples, Fennessy and others also speculated that the prison’s location has a “knock-on effect” on the city’s welfare budget.
“We suffer a disproportionate impact by that because they are released to Concord with little or no services or financial assistance to get started,” said Keach. “It’s just a recipe for them to reoffend and head back where they came from, so it’s not ideal for them or for our community.”
The prison isn’t the only arm of state government to ruffle the feathers of city councilors. They have long bemoaned the loss of tax revenue due to the large portion of state-owned, tax-exempt land in the capital city. At the same time, some said, the state attracts a large workforce to live and spend their money in Concord.
‘A pretty tall order’
Despite a sense of discontent among city councilors, they haven’t taken any formal action to lobby for the prison’s relocation.
The Public Safety Board, however, is exploring ways to extract more money from the state. A preliminary estimate would’ve asked for $350,000 annually — nearly triple the current figure — though the fire department will finalize a cost analysis before the board, and ultimately City Council, takes action.
Kris Schultz, who serves dual roles as a city councilor and state representative for Concord, said she’d “absolutely” be willing to put that request in as a bill for the next legislative session.
Whether Concord’s delegation, all of whom are Democrats in a Republican-led legislature, would have enough influence to pass such a bill remains to be seen. Schultz said elections this fall could determine how much power the delegation has regarding payments and the prison’s location.
Otherwise, Concord’s options are limited. State government almost always supercedes municipal government, and the state isn’t required to pay Concord anything.
For Keach, a history of lackluster cooperation between the State House and City Hall has soured him on any hopes of getting more funding.
“We’ve talked about if off and on,” he said, but “getting the state to pony up money is a pretty tall order.”
