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| Pa. County Prison Will Pay Inmates to Monitor Cellblocks |
| By Citizens' Voice |
| Published: 06/27/2003 |
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Calling the recent rash of suicides at the county prison the facility's most serious problem since he took office, Luzerne County (Pa.) Commissioner Tom Makowski said that immediate steps needed to be taken to address the situation. Makowski and other prison board members voted unanimously June 16 to begin paying inmates to monitor cellblocks as a means to prevent suicide attempts. Additionally, the board is considering hiring an expert to evaluate the facility's suicide prevention procedures. The death of 26-year-old Paul Vander Molen on June 2 marked the third suicide at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility since January, and the fifth in the last year. Prison officials reported that Vander Molen, who was alone in his cell, was last seen by a corrections officer about 25 minutes before he asphyxiated himself with a bed sheet. 'We don't know why this is happening with such frequency, but it can't be tolerated,' said Makowski. 'This is about life and death, and we have to find out if there are ways we can alleviate the problem.' LCCF Deputy Warden Rowland Roberts noted that the Lackawanna County prison has been using the inmate monitoring program for about two years, during which time there have been no suicides at that facility. 'We can't put a camera in every cell because there are privacy issues,' explained Roberts. 'This is the best we can come up with so far.' Roberts said that inmate workers would be paid $5 per day to patrol cellblocks and report irregularities to corrections officers. Although the program would cost about $40,000 each year, Roberts noted that funding wouldn't come from county coffers. Instead, profits from the prison commissary will be used to pay inmate monitors. Roberts said that there are cameras in nearly every cell block, which ensure corrections officers make rounds every half hour, at staggered intervals, as required. The deputy warden also noted that tapes from those surveillance cameras were used to investigate recent suicides. The prison board also asked county Solicitor Jim Blaum to review a contract proposal from a prison suicide expert from the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, Mansfield, Mass. Makowski said the county is considering hiring NCIA prison suicide expert Dr. Lindsay M. Hayes to look into recent inmate deaths at LCCF and determine if measures could be taken to prevent future suicides. The study would cost just under $5,000, and Makowski expects the proposal to be on the board's meeting agenda next month. NCIA also offers training programs at additional cost. |
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