SUNBURY – Northumberland County has about a week and a half left until it must start paying for the inmates that were displaced by the prison fire.
Commissioner Stephen Bridy says they will start paying the state $60 a day for each inmate, which is a discounted amount, “How they derived that number, as opposed to charging what the going rate will be, is by asking themselves how much additional it costs them to house Northumberland County inmates. They came up with about $60 a day, and going forward, it is at least going to benefit them in helping to cover or offset any additional costs they may incur.”
The state gave the county a month free to house the inmates. Currently, there are 125 male inmates being housed at SCI Coal Township and 30 female inmates being housed at SCI-Muncy. That is less than were in jail at the time of the fire says Bridy, “There are 17 males and females already remanded to state custody. That is primarily due to the courts figuring out who is a violent offender, who could be on house arrest paying a fee to stay home and who could be on work release.”
The commissioners also announced that part-time prison employees who cannot collect unemployment would have an opportunity to work in other county departments for two weeks. Bridy says, “The part-time employee positions are due to expire and many of them do not have the ability to collect unemployment. What we decided is instead of forgetting about them, is to bring them onboard and allow other departments to utilize them to come in and do work whether it is scanning documents, inputting information or helping with maintenance.”
The commissioners are continuing to discuss the future of a new prison in Northumberland County. They met Tuesday with the state secretary of corrections John Wetzel, along with State Senator John Gordner (R-27, Berwick) and officials from State Representatives Lynda Schlegal Culver (R-108, Sunbury) and Kurt Masser’s (R-107, Elysburg) office to review the process of housing inmates in the interim. (Sara Bartlett)