WARREN – Insisting there will be little or no cost overruns, state officials Thursday said the $76 million Maine State Prison won’t open until mid-January.

The state Department of Corrections had hoped to open the prison Nov. 1.

Warden Jeffrey Merrill said incomplete construction, staff shortages, training needs and employee holiday and vacation schedules have forced the delay.

The date for moving prisoners has been pushed back to “on or after mid-January 2002,” Merrill said Thursday.

Denise Lord, associate commissioner of the Department of Corrections, said Thursday there have been no cost overruns in the Warren project.

“It will be close to $76 million,” she said. But she said the department is authorized to use interest earned on appropriated funds and the state is allowed to borrow some money, so the final figure may be a bit more than $76 million.

The roughly 440 inmates will remain at the old Maine State Prison in Thomaston until the new prison is ready, Merrill said.

The Thomaston prison has slightly more than 400 employees, including guards. The guard staff is down 13 positions, Merrill said. That has created problems in ensuring enough time to train employees for the new prison.

Merrill has emphasized that the new prison will operate differently from the 176-year-old Thomaston prison. Thus, hundreds of hours of staff training are required.

At Warren, which will have 395,000 square feet of new building space, the prison will use cell pods that will be overseen by unit managers, who will make daily decisions regarding inmate requests, Merrill has said. Now, such requests are handled by the warden.

The new prison is designed to have 886 beds, including the 100 already in place at the so-called Supermax, which is at the same site.

Because of the guard shortage, employees have been mandated to work overtime and there has not been adequate time for training, Merrill said. In addition, the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays always include heavier employee demand for vacations, he said.

“We had a pretty compressed schedule,” he said.

Merrill also said that not all of the buildings are in place at Warren.

The program building and supply area of the warehouse building are nearly complete, he said, and deliveries of supplies have begun. Some of the offices are being set up with furnishings.

The inmate cells are in place, but are not finished, he said. Painting of cells and installation of plumbing and electricity are not finished.

“The boiler plant is up and running,” he said.

Once the prisoners are shifted to the Warren site, some items in Thomaston will be moved out of the old prison. Then officials will begin shutting down systems at the Thomaston prison, preparing it for demolition, he said.

“It’s a work in progress,” Merrill said. “This is a huge, huge construction project.”