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| Legislators Add Voices to Keeping Pittsburgh State Prison Open |
| By Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
| Published: 09/16/2002 |
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The State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh recently received a big boost for staying open from Republican legislative leaders. Adding his support was the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, along with several committee members, after they toured the prison. In May, several local legislators voiced their support for the prison during a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Prison employees, particularly the union that represents guards, have been lobbying hard the past couple of years to keep the facility operating even after a new prison opens next year in Luzerne, Fayette County. The drive to shut down the state's oldest prison gathered steam after six inmates tunneled out of the institution in January 1997. A subsequent investigation revealed a variety of operational and security lapses at the 120-year-old facility, including allowing inmates access to the power tools that aided their escape. Other factors included the prison's location in a flood plain along the Ohio River, its high inmate cost compared to newer prisons and a leveling off of the state's inmate population. But with the inmate population again on the upswing, legislators say additional space will be needed. The state's prisons have a capacity for about 34,000 inmates, but yesterday's total inmate population was 38,358. At SCI Pittsburgh, the inmate population of 1,718 is nearly 6 percent above its capacity of 1,623. 'I honestly don't think we have a choice [but to keep the prison open], given the tremendous increase in inmate population,' said Rep. David Argall of Schuylkill County, chairman of the Appropriations Committee. State Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard in May announced that part of the prison would remain in operation after the Fayette County prison opens next year, but that the prison's status would be changed from maximum to medium security. Its future after next year is not settled. |
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