A town landmark for 20 years, the State Prison for Women could be leaving Goffstown.

This summer, the Department of Corrections asked the Legislature for $37 million to build a new 328-bed prison and a 128-bed transition house for female offenders.

A departure from Goffstown is probable, but not certain. “It is probable that we would leave that property at Mast Road,” said Jeffrey Lyons, a spokesman for the department. “I believe that property would not be suitable to handle the proposal we have in mind.”

The new facility would replace a Goffstown prison that is overcrowded. Built for 105 inmates, the existing facility is over capacity at 127, according to “It’s too small,” said Lyons. “It’s very limited. We’re not able to provide the programming and treatment we would like to provide.”

The demand for more space, he said, has led to the conversion of some recreational space into a dormitory. The state also houses 17 of its female offenders in a jail it rents from Strafford County.

Before it was a state prison, the Goffstown facility itself was a jail for Hillsborough County. The state began leasing it from the county in 1989. The lease costs the state $100,000 a year, and its latest contract will expire in November 2009, according to Lyons.

According to Goffstown Town Administrator Sue Desruisseaux, the current prison sits on county-owned land, and no property taxes are paid on this property. If the prison did move, there would be no financial impact on the town.

Lyons said the $37 million proposal for a new prison was the largest one out of a total $59 million in capital requests to the Legislature, which are competing with the needs of numerous other state agencies and departments. Lyons said planning for the new facility will be minimal until the Legislature approves it.

Commissioner William Wrenn was invited to meet with the Berlin City Council in August, but Lyons said the department has not formally identified potential locations.

Carol Holden, a Hillsborough County commissioner, is not sure what the county would do with the building if the state vacated it. She said the board of commissioners had not been planning for that possibility. “There hasn’t been any planning because until the state verifies they’re leaving, we really can’t do anything,” Holden said. She said the prison building could serve a variety of purposes. At one point, it was considered as a place for a kindergarten, she added.

All the land surrounding the prison is owned by the county as well, said Goffstown planning and economic development coordinator Steve Griffin, and it is zoned for agricultural use.

– Sarah Lebrun contributed to this story