5/11/16
by News Department on 05/11/16No new inmates permitted...
Schuylkill County Prison Board Chairman George F. Halcovage, Jr. announced Tuesday that the Schuylkill County Prison received an Order dated May 4, 2016 from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections determining that the Schuylkill County Prison is ineligible to receive any additional prisoners sentenced to a maximum term of 6 months or more but less than 5 years.
In the order issued by John E. Wetzel, Secretary of the Department of Corrections, it states that the prison failed to reach the benchmark of 277 inmates within the prison by November 24, 2015. As of that date, 305 inmates were housed in the prison and continued to grow after.
The Order was issued to help reduce the number of housed inmates below the agreed benchmark that was set forth in the Settlement Agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections dated July 28, 2015.
The Prison Board along with the Schuylkill County Board of Commissioners, has worked to implement contracts with various state and county correctional facilities to house Schuylkill County inmates and others are currently being negotiated and reviewed.
The County has already diverted over thirty inmates since the original order and additional inmates are presently being classified for transfer.
