Top officials gave the go-ahead Wednesday for the state to reopen a juvenile prison in Augusta that was shut down following allegations of abuse.

The Augusta Youth Development Center could be back in operation under state control by early fall, Gov. Sonny Perdue told reporters after winning approval of an $8.3 million budget shift to fund the prison's operations.

The shift was approved by a group known as the Fiscal Affairs Subcommittee, which has the power to make budget changes when the Legislature is not in session. The governor, the speaker of the House, the lieutenant governor and a handful of key lawmakers are members of the panel.

After allegations were raised that former officials at the Augusta facility provided inmates with marijuana and pornography and took money to let them fight each other, the state moved to privatize the prison. Legal wrangling over the contract let to a state-ordered shutdown, and the inmates were moved elsewhere.

Perdue said Department of Juvenile Justice Commissioner Albert Murray, who was brought in after the prison was privatized, persuaded him to reopen the facility under state control.

"He is confident that DJJ can do a better job with these troubled young people with the team that he's put in place. He's made the case and I believed him," Perdue said.

He added, "I think he's willing to own that issue and he understands the accountability that comes with it, and I'm going to give him a shot at it."

House Speaker Terry Coleman, D-Eastman, said Augusta area lawmakers tried to tell Perdue last year the prison shouldn't be closed. "They all said this is crazy. All they need is a new manager over there, that's what they said at the time."

The budget panel also shifted $2.5 million within the budget for the Department of Corrections to help pay the costs of a growing backlog of state prisoners in county lockups.

The state must pay local governments $20 per prisoner per day for anyone in their jails more than 15 days after they have been convicted and sentenced to state custody. The backlog has grown from 1,200 to 3,200 in the last three years.

The state is only a few months away from gaining another 1,500 beds in the prison system, with another 1,200 slated to come on line in 18 months.

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Dick Pettys has covered Georgia government and politics since 1970.