May 30, 2018 By Mark Hofmann mhofmann@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

The Fayette County Prison’s warden reported to the prison board that different efforts to bring down the inmate population have been working.

During Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Fayette County Prison Board, Warden Jeffery Myers presented the current population report showing 163 men and 35 women, totaling 198 inmates.

The May population showed 98 new commitments in the prison.

“And the trend is looking very good because we released 111,” Myers said.

Commissioner Vincent Vicites asked Myers what he attributed that trend. Last year at this time, Vicites said, inmate population totals ranged from 230 to 270.

“I think it’s a collective thing of everybody working together,” Myers said. “I had to go back and do some research based on previous years, and we’re doing tremendously well on that end.”

One factor that’s helped to keep the population manageable, officials said, is the addition of a probation officer at the prison five days a week.

That officer started in February, and his duty is to retrieve data on inmates and send it to county judges. The judges in turn review the information and make sentence or other modifications so the inmates aren’t kept at the facility longer than necessary.

Myers said in addition to those in the common pleas court system, the magisterial district judges have been working with the prison to help reduce populations numbers.

Another factor is the county’s continued participation in the Intermediate Punishment Program. As of May 9, the program had a record 214 clients, said James A. Kovacs with the county’s adult probation office. The IP program doesn’t require incarceration, but does require electronic monitoring.

“It even surpassed the jail population for the first time,” Kovacs said. He said the number of clients in the program has saved 6,011 incarceration days. Using the county’s cost model of $79.46 per day per inmate, the total savings at the end of April was $477,634.05.

The board also discussed the burden many prisons have with inmates with mental-health issues. Judge Steve P. Leskinen said there have been times where prisoners are incarcerated for six months before an attorney requests a mental health evaluation on their behalf.

Leskinen questioned whether the commissioners could put a mental-health professional on retainer to do evaluations in the prison, and suggested getting the county’s public defender’s office on board to immediately request a mental heath evaluation if their client shows signs of mental illness.

In other business during the public comment portion of the meeting, William Jones questioned the board’s recent special meeting where disciplinary action was taken against a guard, asking the board why the officer wasn’t terminated for what Williams said was a violation of a prisoner’s constitutional rights.

Leskinen said the issue was a personnel matter and told Jones that it’s not up to the board to file criminal charges against an officer.

When Jones continued pressing as to why the board didn’t approach the district attorney’s office and asked for justification on why the board didn’t terminate the officer, Leskinen asked if it was public comment or grandstanding time.

“If you were in court, there would be an objection,” Leskinen said. “You’re assuming a fact that’s not in evidence.”