|
|
| Fayette County prison opening will start closure of Pittsburgh, Waynesburg facilities |
| By Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
| Published: 08/27/2003 |
|
When the first inmates move next week into the new $125 million state prison in Fayette County, Pa., it will mark the beginning of the end for prisons in Pittsburgh and Waynesburg. The state Department of Corrections prefers the term 'mothball' to 'close' when describing the future status of those two prisons, but there is little doubt the lockups will be emptied of inmates by early next year. Technically, the term mothball refers to a state in which the institution is maintained with a skeletal staff so it could potentially be reopened. That's the status the prisons in Pittsburgh and Waynesburg will have after their inmates are transferred. The first occupants of the new State Correctional Institution Fayette in Luzerne will arrive early next week from the minimum security State Correctional Institution Waynesburg, Greene County, said Sue McNaughton, spokeswoman for the corrections department in Camp Hill. Fifty to 60 inmates will be part of the first transfer, she said. The Waynesburg prison has slowly been transferring its inmates over the past few months. Once SCI Waynesburg is emptied of inmates -- probably in six to eight weeks -- the State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh will start to move its inmates out. Two weeks ago, the 121-year-old Woods Run prison stopped accepting parole violators -- the first step toward controlling its inmate population in anticipation of the transfers to the new prison, spokeswoman Carol Scire said. There were 1,726 inmates at the prison yesterday, a decrease of 24 from the day the edict was issued to prohibit acceptance of parole violators. The prison is rehabilitating one unit, B3, to prepare it for an influx of about 90 inmates who will be moved there when D block closes and that unit's inmates are divided between B3 and SCI Fayette, Scire said. There will be about 700 jobs at SCI Fayette and the same number at the new State Correctional Institution Forest, which will open in about a year near Marienville, Forest County. The 220 employees at SCI Waynesburg and 725 at SCI Pittsburgh can choose to transfer to one of the new prisons in the first wave or to remain behind and then transfer elsewhere. The closing of D block will allow the Pittsburgh prison to initially move 23 corrections officers and a handful of supervisors to the Fayette County prison. The transfers will be based on seniority and those affected will only have one chance to transfer on that basis to the new prison, Scire said. Some employees from the two old prisons have already moved to SCI Fayette. Most of the 90 permanent and temporary employees at the new prison are from SCI Waynesburg. The rest are from SCI Pittsburgh, McNaughton said. Also moving to SCI Fayette will be one of the staples of prison life in SCI Pittsburgh for decades -- the license plate production operation. |
advertise
|
privacy policy
|
add URL
|
about us
|
terms/disclaimer
|
contact us
|
join our team
|
help
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think