PA Monroe County | The Corrections Reporter

Monroe County PA – New Jail Warden

October 30th, 2009

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Monroe County PA names 7th warden in 2 years. As reported on WNEP.

Donna Asure, Warden

After two years and six wardens the Monroe County jail has a new person in charge.

The Monroe County prison board didn’t have to go far to find their next warden. Friday morning members chose Republican county commissioner Donna Asure.

She will be the seventh warden at the Monroe County Correctional Facility since 2007.

It’s a role she said will be challenging, especially with the jail’s recent troubled past.

Now the new warden is promising change.

“It’s still very overwhelming right now because I have made a major decision to apply for something that will change my lifestyle and everything that I have done to this point,” said Asure.

Newswatch 16 sat down with newly named prison warden and Monroe County commissioner moments after she got the news.

The 10-year county commissioner and past prison board president beat out three other finalists for the warden spot. Asure has even been serving as the interim warden since the spring.

“We have had no stability out there. There has been no consistency,” the new warden said.

The position of warden has become somewhat of a revolving door over the past few years.

Since 2007 the prison has had six wardens. In March warden David Mauro resigned after being suspended. He had only been on the job for a couple of months.

Before him warden Marlene Chamblee resigned in July, 2008 after only six months in the position.

She had replaced warden David Keenhold who left the job in 2007 after a prison sex scandal. Six corrections officers and a kitchen worker from the Monroe County jail faced charges of sexually abusing inmates the year before.

Asure said it was during that troubled time she wanted to do something to change the prison.

“With the mistakes that were made over the past year-and-a-half we tried to put the right fit into that facility,” Asure said. “They know my management style, both there and here. They know my leadership capabilities and I think it is going to be a great fit.”

With Asure now prison warden a Monroe County judge will appoint her replacement to serve out the remaining two years of her term as Monroe County commissioner.

jchev PA Monroe County, Personnel Issues

Jail As Animal Shelter?

February 2nd, 2009

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The idea — to operate a shelter at the Monroe County PA jail — isn’t without precedent, and could yield benefits beyond what a normal shelter provides.

The Pennsylvania SPCA closed its Monroe County shelter Thursday after 50 years of operation, citing lack of community support and money. Prisons around the country provide a wide variety of programs involving animals, from pre-adoption training to full shelter services. In Maricopa County, Ariz., famed Sheriff Joe Arpaio — better known for issuing inmates pink boxer shorts — converted an old jail into a shelter and staffed it with corrections officers and female inmates to care for the animals. “I think it’s a great idea. It shouldn’t be discounted,” said state Rep. Mario Scavello, R-176.

Scavello, who suggested the idea, said the benefits would go beyond the care of the animals. “It’s a therapy for the prisoners and it teaches them to care for somebody. It teaches the prisoners a sense of responsibility. It can become a trade for these inmates. And rather than play basketball and watch cable television all the time, we will have productive inmates,” he said … “All we need is to put some type of facility in there to house the animals,” he said. “I’d like to see the commissioners look into this. If I were a county commissioner, I’d be doing it now. I’d find the dollars to do it” …

But there are practical obstacles too. Such as supervision of inmates by the sheriff’s department. “We use prisoner work details, but we have more work than prisoners. It’s up to the sheriff. He knows how many deputies he has. But we are not going to take on and run the shelter. We don’t have enough hours in the day,” she added. And then there’s the problem of security classification. Only minimum security prisoners could be used for such work, and she said the Monroe County Correctional Facility houses a rougher mix. Some of the shelters operating at prisons are in rural counties that don’t have the types of violent criminals Monroe County has.

There is a lot more information on this idea at the Pocono Record.

jakking Inmate Programs, PA Monroe County

PA County Jail Gets New Phone System

January 26th, 2009

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The good news for Monroe County PA Correctional Facility inmates is they will pay less for phone calls. The bad news, as far as inmates are concerned, is that it will be easier for law enforcement to detect discussions of illegal activities.

The Monroe County Commissioners agreed Wednesday to award a new inmate phone system contract … including a new capability to pick out key words from recorded conversations. That feature will make life easier for detectives at the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office who routinely review inmate recordings. It’s legal and admissible in court. When they make calls, inmates are warned their conversations will be recorded. Calls to attorneys about their criminal cases are exempt; inmates provide staff with a list of those numbers.

Currently detectives spend hours each month listening to calls recorded on software. But the new system is capable of picking out key words, such as references to drug use or possible threats of physical harm. “It will search any kind of street name for drugs,” MCCF Sgt. Will Searfoss said during a Monroe County Prison Board meeting earlier this month. “It learns the dialect of the prisoner.”

… The recording systems — the current one and the approved upgrade — don’t cost taxpayers anything. It is paid for from inmate funds posted to cover phone calls and other items they purchase at the Snydersville jail.

jakking Inmate Telephones, PA Monroe County

Daily Sweep 080109

January 9th, 2008

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New Hampshire DOC looking to add “good time” provisions to sentence management. Westmoreland County PA has lowest inmate population in 5 years. A new warden is appointed in Monroe County PA. Iowa may build a new prison. Washington State DOC has opened a new maximum-security unit at the Monroe Prison complex.

jakking Iowa, New Hampshire, Overcrowding, PA Monroe County, PA Westmoreland County, Sentencing, Washington