The state has officially handed over a former Bronx prison to a nonprofit that plans to transform it into a place that helps ex-cons. NY1's Erin Clarke filed the following report.

Stanley Richards counsels men and women who were imprisoned, but before that, he spent time at Fulton Correctional Facility. He credits a work-release program at the minimum-security prison for helping him adjust to living on the other side of the bars. 

"I was able to ease my way back into the community," Richards said. "I was able to leave with some money. I was able to meet my wife of 24 years and reunite with her and connect with her."

Now, the facility that the Cuomo administration closed in 2011 to save money is getting a second chance to offer that hope to ex-cons. On Thursday, state officials symbolically handed over the building's keys to the Osborne Association, an organization that helps former inmates return to society.

"I envision this being a community re-entry center, with a combination of services by different providers, including us, that would welcome people home and connect them to what people need when they come home," said Elizabeth Gaynes, CEO of the Osborne Association. "Mostly job training, job creation, connecting them back to their families. We'll have some transitional housing."

A $6 million state grant and about $650,000 from the Bronx borough president is paying for the building's transformation..

This is just a start, though. In two years, Osborne hopes to have the facility up and running, but there is still a lot of work to do and more funding needed.

"This capital money doesn't pay for the electricity or the security, safety, cameras," Gaynes said. "It doesn't pay for any of the programs."

Osborne plans to raise some of that needed money by renting space in the building to partner organizations.

Supporters said they'll make sure the project succeeds. 

"I am committed, however, along with the community and all the other elected officials here in the Bronx, to continue to identify the funding that's necessary so that this transformative project does not end," said state Senator Gustavo Rivera of the Bronx.

It's a project they said is unique: a prison that once held inmates serving as a center to help them re-launch their lives.