Alto prison getting some inmates from closed prison

ATLANTA - The state of Georgia has closed a prison in DeKalb County to save money and some of the inmates have been moved to Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto.

Metro State Prison was shuttered Friday in a move state prisons officials say will save $19.1 million a year.

The state Department of Corrections says it has moved the almost 800 female inmates who were housed there to two rural prisons. In addition to Lee Arrendale, some of the prisoners were transferred to Pulaski State Prison in Hawkinsville in south Georgia.

DOC Commissioner Brian Owens told legislators earlier this year that he chose to close Metro because despite the 27.5 percent rise in the overall prison population over the last decade, the number of women coming into the system had dropped.

Owens said in January a private prison operator may be interested in the building.