Out-of-county rental costs now over budget
A budgetary shortfall for the Fayette County Prison will delay payment to a neighboring county lockup that is housing its inmate overflow.
Jack Loughery, prison business manager, reported to the county prison board Wednesday that the payouts to other county prisons had depleted the monthly account causing the $58,995 invoice due to the Greene County Prison to go unpaid.
“There is a shortfall in the monthly line item,” said Loughery in offering the financial report.
Payments to Cambria, Bedford and Butler county prisons totaling $32,395 were approved by the board, along with invoices for supplies, repairs, medical and food services and other operating costs.
According to the prison budget, the line item dedicated to out-of-county rental expenditures was over the 2013 allocation of $375,000 last month due to the increasing number of inmates being transferred to other locations as they serve their jail sentence or await trial.
To date, the county has paid about $560,000 to other counties to house its prisoners, overspending the budgeted amount by $115,000.
Last month, Warden Brian Miller reported that 90 prisoners were in other facilities. While that figure dropped by six in June, the cost is critically impacting both the prison budget and the county budget, said Controller Sean Lally.
“The commissioners are going to have to go back into the budget and see where money has been allocated that has not been used or underused and move it to that line item,” he said. “It is a critical problem.”
With the current trend of spending, and population figures typically rising during the summer months and near the Christmas holiday, Lally estimated the county to spend more than $1 million in out-of-county rental fees this year, up from $690,000 in 2012.
District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. said that housing prisoners outside of Fayette County is also impacting his ability to prosecute those accused of crimes.
Heneks said that last week he was forced to reschedule to an attempted homicide case scheduled before a magisterial district judge, because the accused man was in an out-of-area prison, not at the county jail.
“People awaiting a preliminary hearing should be a priority (and kept in-house),” said Heneks. “The recent arrivals (to the prison) should be the last ones shipped out, because they are the ones most likely to be awaiting a hearing.”
Heneks suggested that those serving parole or probation violations be transferred, if necessary, as they are serving an already imposed sentence.
“Those are the prime candidates,” he said.
Miller said that transferring those already sentenced is a priority, but not always realistic, because some outside prisons will not accept certain inmates.
“We have a list of 40 inmates that Greene County will not take,” he said. “We’re under their mercy.
“We have 31 inmates in Butler (County Prison) today. They could call me today and say come get them, and I would have to. Then what do I do with these 31 people?”
Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink, a member of the prison board, said that the coordination of prisoner transfers with judicial hearings has been a long-standing problem with no resolution.
“There are many, many individuals that are shipped out and then brought back two days later,” she said. “Then we have transportation issues, correction officers out and security issues.
“We have to fix the problem, not just state the problem,” she said.
Miller said that the construction of a new facility would address the issues. However, Zimmerlink disagreed.
“That’s not the answer. It is an administrative problem,” she said. “We have been hearing about this for months … for years.”
Commissioner Vincent Zapotosky, who along with Commissioner Al Ambrosini, Sheriff Gary Brownfield, Zimmerlink and Lally comprise the board, said the answers to the issues are tied to the boards’ commitment to resolving the problems.
“It is easy to point the finger,” he said. “We need to work collectively as a board and be committed to solving the problems, not just short term, but long term.”
In other action, the board approved the hiring of 10 part-time correction officers, including Robert Lippencott, Mathew Chapman, Timothy Arnold, Clyde Branson, Robert Neville, Keith Intorre, Aaron Loring, Brittany Jones, Adam Gillingham and Kenneth Whyel and an hourly salary of $15.62 for each of the employees.