JACKSON (AP) — Thousands of human remains could be moved out of a cemetery that belonged to an old Mississippi psychiatric hospital.

The state House and Senate are passing bills that would allow the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson to disinter the remains of an estimated 3,000 to 7,000 people.

Mississippi Hospital for the Insane operated from 1855 until 1935 on part of what is now the medical center campus in Jackson.

Democratic Sen. David Blount of Jackson says moving the remains to a mausoleum elsewhere in the city will cost between $2 million and $3 million and give scholars a chance to study the old hospital’s operations. Archaeologists, historians and others will help.

The new site for the remains would be a 9,000-square-foot climate-controlled structure with 24-hour security.