Marlin VA medical center will now serve inmates

The Thomas T. Connally Veterans Affairs Medical Center will become a medical center for inmates. State lawmakers were happy to announce the Thomas T. Connally Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Marlin will no longer waste away.

The five story building has been inoperable for six years, but now with the deed in the hands of the state, activity will return, as it becomes a medical facility for inmates.

"We are anxious to see these doors open again and have a lot of jobs, a lot of good paying jobs, professional jobs, to bring some stimulus back, some life back to Marlin and Falls County," State Sen. Kip Averitt said.

Friday's announcement put the project in its design stage, as the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is still planning operations for the facility.

It's unclear as to how many jobs the state will offer, but they have the capacity to care for more than 100 patients. The offenders will come from units across the state.

When the facility first opened in 1950, 250 were employed.

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Facility transfer

News 8's Bonnie Gonzalez tells us how the project will boost the local economy.

And for those who have worked at the facility, like Marlin resident Vicki Smith, they are nothing less than excited to see the building have a purpose once again.

"I think we'll all just be thrilled to see the facility re-opened, to see activity around this building," Smith said.

It's been a long process, more than two years to secure the new fate of the building, but lawmakers like U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said it was worth it. Marlin resident Vicki Smith worked at the facility when it was a veterans' hospital.

"It's going to provide an asset to the community that was really going to waste so it's a win for tax payers and it's a win for the community and I'm very excited," Hutchison said.

In 2007 lawmakers secured $3 million for the conversion of the facility.

An additional $.5 million was granted in 2008 and this year the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is seeking another $18.7 million to fully fund the building's conversion.

The state does not yet have a date for when the facility will open.