Lawrence County to house inmates

High-violence prisoners will not be housed in the Lawrence County jail.

By Mary Grzebieniak

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Lawrence County commissioners have approved a one-year agreement to house 50 state prison inmates per month in the county jail for $50 per day each.

The move is expected to bring the county $75,000 in new revenue per month. The contract started July 1 and runs until June 30, 2010.

The contract approved Tuesday with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections allows either party to terminate it with 90 days’ notice and states the space can only be used for state prisoners if it is not needed for county inmates.

Commission Chairman Steve Craig said the $50 daily allotment “more than meets our cost” since it costs only $5 daily to feed a prisoner and other costs, such as personnel, are fixed.

The prisoners will be overflow inmates from state prisons but will not be high-level violent offenders because the county jail is not equipped for such inmates, commissioners said.

Craig said there is plenty of room for the state prisoners. He pointed out that the last jail census listed 168 prisoners and the jail has a 275-bed capacity. He said that up until the end of June, the county was taking overflow prisoners from Butler County but this stopped when Butler built more jail space. He said that in the past, the county also has taken overflow prisoners from other county jails, including Beaver and Mercer counties.

He said the state will pay the cost of their prisoners’ medical care.

Craig said the counties were approached by the state earlier this year and asked to take prisoners. He said that Center and Butler Counties have also agreed to do so.