BUCKS COUNTY, PA - A Philadelphia company was hired Wednesday by the Bucks County commissioners to house up to 20 work-release inmates, marking the first time the county has sought the services of a private contractor to provide accommodations for male prisoners.

When the inmates are transferred to the Community Education Services facility in Northeast Philadelphia in mid-August, it will help free space in the county's crowded maximum security center in Doylestown Township, said Harris Gubernick, county director of corrections.

''If it frees up 20 beds, there are 20 people who will transfer from the jail,'' Gubernick said. ''You'll see a reduction at the jail level.''

Commissioners approved a $438,000 contract with Community Education Services.

The commissioners and the Bucks County Prison Oversight Board have been wrestling with overpopulation issues in the county corrections system for several years. The prison currently houses about 690 inmates, twice as many as it was built to house two decades ago. Also, the men's work-release center is at capacity with 270 beds filled while there are about 200 inmates serving their sentences on house arrest.

In February, a consultant recommended expanding the prison to include up to 120 new cells at a cost estimated to be as much as $49.4 million. Commissioner Sandra A. Miller, chairwoman of the Oversight Board, said a board committee is still studying the proposal.

The commissioners have approved contracts with other county jails to accept inmates when the Bucks prison runs out of space. Miller said, though, that the Community Education Services contract marks the first time the county has found a private contractor to house male inmates.

Gubernick said that in the 1980s, before a work-release center was established for female inmates, the county signed contracts with several drug and alcohol residential facilities to house female inmates on work-release. Those contracts were canceled after a work-release center for women was opened in 1991 in Doylestown Township, he said.

Gubernick said the inmates who are transferred to Philadelphia would undergo the same work-release program they find at the Men's Community Corrections Center in Bucks County. The inmates will be permitted to leave the institution during the day to attend jobs but must return to confinement after their workday has ended. The inmates will receive drug and alcohol counseling at the center, he said. Also, Gubernick said, the county's corrections staff will provide the job site visits that are part of the work-release routine.

Miller said the Oversight Board would continue to study the report that was submitted by the consultant, the Vitetta Group Inc. of Philadelphia. Miller said the population of the maximum-security prison is expected to grow over the next several years and it is clear the commissioners will have to find a way to accommodate the growing inmate population.