Prison board recommends building new county lockup
The Fayette County Prison Board voted Wednesday to recommend the construction of a new county prison at the Fayette County Fairgrounds after the findings of a study regarding possible solutions to the county’s prison problems were revealed.
The move, made in two separate motions, passed by a 4-1 margin with Sheriff Gary D. Brownfield, county commissioners Al Ambrosini and Vincent Zapotosky and Controller Sean Lally all voting in favor of the recommendation for a new prison and the proposed location and Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink voting against the measures.
In November, Ambrosini empowered a panel to review the operation, programming, structure and cost of the 124-year-old Fayette County Prison and gather information relevant to a new prison.
Panel members include representatives from the county offices of behavioral health, district attorney, public defender, sheriff, controller, building and grounds, the prison and judicial services along with county residents and clergy.
The findings of the panel prompted the majority of commissioners to retain Sleighter Engineering Inc. of Uniontown and Crabtree Rohrbaugh and Associates of Mechanicsburg to conduct an assessment of the needs of the current prison and the feasibility of a new prison. Zimmerlink did not support that action.