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| County tackles crowding at its jail |
| By The Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Published: 10/13/2003 |
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The Bucks County, Penn. Prison Oversight Board moved on two fronts last week to alleviate record-setting overcrowding in the county jail. They agreed to organize a new, separate Criminal Justice Advisory Board with representatives from every department involved in the county's criminal justice system. The board also directed Harris Gubernick, the county director of corrections, to contact officials of Northampton County to learn how they have been able to reduce the number of state prisoners in their jail. The Bucks County Correctional Facility's overcrowding became so severe last month that the Department of Corrections shipped 15 inmates to the Monroe County jail to be housed at a cost to Bucks County of $60 a day for each inmate. On one day last month, a record 735 inmates were housed in the jail, which was built in 1985 and now has 376 cells. Gubernick said it was the first time since the Bucks County jail opened in 1985 that inmates have been sent to another jail because of overcrowding. For the month, the average daily population was 679, another record high, according to corrections reports. Before the jail was built, it was common for the county to have 100 or more inmates housed outside its system. When the jail opened in 1985 with 357 cells, 185 inmates moved in from the old county jail, and 123 moved in from other institutions across the state. With a new, stricter drunken-driving law that went into effect Oct. 1, the overcrowding is expected to grow even more, Gubernick said, although he could not yet estimate how much more. The county jail has been undergoing construction projects to improve security, repair a leaking roof, and resolve other problems. The construction work has forced the jail to house some inmates temporarily in the education room, which has forced cutbacks in programs designed to help and rehabilitate inmates. McAndrews noted that one of the reasons judges sentence state inmates to terms in the Bucks County jail is the quality of the jail's programs. He said the cutback in the programs is something that needs to be addressed. |
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