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| Schuylkill County Prison's inmate population exceeds capacity |
| By republicanherald.com - mark gilger jr |
| Published: 02/23/2012 |
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PA --Prior to the Schuylkill County Prison board meeting Wednesday morning, the commissioners chairman believed the inmate population had stabilized after peaking at 272 last year. However, the latest numbers from the prison warden show otherwise. Warden Eugene Berdanier said during the meeting that the population was at 281 on Wednesday morning, and the monthly average for January was 268 inmates. The suggested capacity for the prison is 240. "In the last year to year and a half, the population has been around 240 and 250," commissioners Chairman Frank J. Staudenmeier said Wednesday. "That certainly got my attention. I was surprised they were that high." Staudenemeier said there could be a few contributing factors, such as faster court sessions. "Hopefully, it doesn't continue to be that high," Staudenmeier said. "If it continues for consecutive months, it is something we need to pay attention to." When the population at the prison consistently surpassed 240 for several years, the previous board of commissioners moved forward with the idea of building a low-security prerelease center for nonviolent offenders. However, bids for the project averaged $4.2 million, $1 million more than the board wanted to spend, and the idea was scrapped in March 2011. "I think for now it is a manageable situation," Staudenmeier said. "Hopefully, those numbers will come down. Today they spiked higher than the previous year and half." Read More. |
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