SC officials hope to move sex offenders by 2013.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — State mental officials hope to move about 44 violent sex offenders from an old hospital near Columbia to a state prison early next year.

Mental Health Department attorney Mark Binkley told a meeting in Columbia on Monday night the agency is working to move the offenders from the old Crafts-Farrow State Hospital to a state prison.

About 70 people attended the meeting, worried the inmates are being housed in a facility near a recreation center, a child development center and a church.

A private company operates the current facility.

Officials have said the facility is safe, with a security fence and guards both inside and outside the buildings.

Officials say the 90 beds in the new unit could be filled by 2015.