The Berks County PA commissioners Thursday approved housing as many as 30 inmates from Bucks County in the Berks prison to help Bucks cope with overcrowding, according to the Reading Eagle.
Berks will receive $55 a day per inmate, officials said. Berks Warden George A. Wagner said the prison population has dropped to 1,070 this year from 1,300 last year. Wagner said the prison ideally should house about 900 inmates. However, he said, the prison can accommodate the additional inmates from Bucks.
vericatrajkova Overcrowding, PA Berks County, PA Bucks County, Pennsylvania
A state-run community corrections center that will eventually house 360 men just out of prison is set to open next Monday in South Heidelberg Township, Pennsylvania.
State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Susan McNaughton said that, at first, the state plans to move 25 offenders to a building on the grounds of Wernersville State Hospital. By summer, the state expects to have 360 men living in three renovated buildings there, making it one of the largest such facilities in the state. Some of the new center’s residents will have completed their time in prison. Others will be serving the remainder of nearly finished sentences … The residents will be from Berks County and surrounding areas, she said.
The South Heidelberg center initially will employ 12 monitors and two administrative staff, McNaughton said. The state plans to hire about 30 more staffers by summer. The state runs 13 similar centers, including facilities in Allentown and Harrisburg. The centers’ residents are kept under tight supervision and have to get jobs and pay rent.
Residents’ concerns are covered in the article at The Reading Eagle.
vericatrajkova Community Corrections, PA Berks County, Pennsylvania