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| Pa. Counties Want Payment for Celling State Inmates |
| By Johnstown Tribune Democrat |
| Published: 05/02/2003 |
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Taxpayers are shelling out $8 million a year to house prisoners in Cambria, Somerset and Bedford counties, but that is a bargain compared with the rest of the state. Bedford spends less on housing inmates than any other county in Pennsylvania, and Cambria and Somerset are not far behind, a state study reveals. The information is being used in a push to have the state pick up all or a portion of the costs of housing state inmates in county jails for extended sentences, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections said. 'There is a House bill referred to the Judiciary Committee dealing with state sentences, and we'll probably see other things come out,' corrections spokeswoman Barbara Wilhelm said in a telephone interview from her Harrisburg office. 'But also, it is general information that can be used for a variety of purposes.' It would cost the state an estimated $40 million or more a year if legislators determine the counties should be reimbursed for housing 2,400 prisoners serving state sentences in county facilities. Inmates serving sentences of up to two years are considered county inmates. Those serving terms of two to five years are classified as state inmates, but law allows local judges to order them to be housed in county lockups. 'The judges have the discretion and often county time is used as part of a plea bargain,' said Doug Hill, executive director of the state Association of County Commissioners. The association has been battling with legislators for the past few years pushing for reimbursement or a change in the law taking away a county judge's power to give county time for a state sentence, Hill said in a telephone interview from his Harrisburg office. Any chance of the state stepping forward with reimbursements or a plan to change a judge's ability to sentence state inmates to county facilities probably will not materialize this year, officials conceded. 'For the last couple sessions, bills have been put in to effect some change or provide some reimbursement,' said David Atkinson, legislative aide to state Sen. Robert C. Jubelirer, R-Blair and Bedford, in a telephone interview from his Harrisburg office. 'It's hard to see that before we add human services back to the budget, we look at paying costs of inmates,' he added. Hill said the county commissioners have no intentions of giving up. 'This is one of our top issues for the year,' he said. 'Part of what we're being told is to build a case, and we're trying to do that by trying to gauge the levels of overcrowding at the county prisons and the causes for it.' |
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