DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The space used to treat patients at a now-closed state mental health institute in southwest Iowa is reopening under new management. The Iowa Department of Corrections is expected to sign a contract this month with a company to lease four wards at the facility once known as Clarinda Mental Health Institute. Zion Recovery Services, which offers substance abuse treatment, wants to expand its residential services.

The three-year contract could complicate any effort to reopen the space as a state-run mental health facility. The Iowa Supreme Court is in the midst of reviewing a lawsuit that challenges Gov. Terry Branstad’s decision last year to close the institute along with a facility in Mount Pleasant. Attorneys for plaintiffs in the lawsuit want the closed centers to reopen.