Gov. Beverly Perdue would cut prison spending, but keep the same number of beds.

At a presentation this morning, Budget Director Charlie Perusse said that proposed cuts would mainly be in closing older, less efficient prisons.

He singled out McCain Correctional Hospital, a minimum custody health care center for adult male inmates that was built in 1908.

"Is it worth putting repair and renovation money into facilities that are 80 or 90 years old?" he said. "It's going to cost more to repair them ... then to transition (prisoners) to a new site somewhere else."

He said that the per-day costs at older prisons are often much greater than at newer facilities. Recent prison designs in Pamlico, Nash and Warren counties have also allowed for double-celling of inmates. 

Perusse said that the state would still have the number of beds projected to be needed by the state Sentencing Commission projections.

Gov. Beverly Perdue said this morning that she has asked administration officials to go back and find more programs to cut in the face of the $2 billion budget shortfall.

Perdue has received a list of options for a seven percent budget reduction for the fiscal year that begins July 1. A list provided by the governor's office included at least $470 million in cuts, Rob Christensen reports.

But Perdue said she was not satisfied that most of the options recommended were across the board cuts. She asked that the departments go back and identify more programs that can be eliminated.

"They have sent me a list of what the 7 percent would look like," Perdue told reporters after speaking to a Raleigh breakfast sponsored by Lillian's List, a pro-choice women's group.

"I have specifically asked(budget officials) for some programmatic cuts not just across the board," Perdue said. "This looks to me like a lot of across-the-board cuts. I find it hard to believe that there are not things that could be eliminated."

Most of the options proposed by the various state agencies include general across-the-board reductions, or eliminating positions.

But the list does include options for eliminating a few programs such as the Epilepsy Medical Care Services, the Cystic Fibrosis Medical Care Services, the state abortion fund, chiropractic and podiatric services for individuals over 20, close five unidentified correctional centers, close the McCain Correctional Hospital and close the Wilmington Residential Facility for Women.