The Navy has invited developers to consider a possible lease and redevelopment of the old Portsmouth Naval Shipyard prison, once called the Alcatraz of the East. The building is known to have asbestos and lead problems, and unsafe conditions prevent developers from entering the building. The Navy doesn’t know how much it would cost to make the building safe or how much a lease would cost. The prison is still located in the middle of an active shipyard, now used to repair and modernize submarines. Because of this location, the Navy has placed some security restrictions on the property and will not allow development for public access. The prison was built in the early 1900s and abandoned in 1974, not long after it was featured in “The Last Detail,” a movie starring Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid and Otis Young.
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