Apr 25, 2003 2 min read

There’s a bit of a numbers game that can be played with sentencing. In Fayette County if a judge sentences a defendant to 24 or more months, the defendant almost always serves the time in a state prison. That’s why offers during plea bargains of say 9 to 23 months often look favorable to defendants. It means time spent locally as guests of the county.

Perhaps it’s because Fayette County grappled for many years with an over crowed prison, that the judicial system has worked hard to get state inmates into state prisons. The faster they can get them transferred the cheaper it is for the county, who under current state practices must bear the brunt of three hots and cot for each of its inmates.

Some counties haven’t been as diligent or haven’t gained as much cooperation from the state in moving inmates to state, rather than county, prisons and are feeling the crunch. Our sister paper the Bucks County Courier Times reports Bucks spends about $6.2 million a year housing prisoners that should have been moved to state prisons.

There’s a movement in the state Senate that would end the practice of sending state inmates to county facilities. Judges would no longer have the discretion to allow county time for sentences longer than two years.

Counties are all for it. At the very least they would like reimbursed for the expense of housing state prisoners. Something should be worked out, although it is doubtful that Harrisburg would be itching to take on more of a financial burden with an already expanding prison budget.

In fact, the state wants to cut its costs by shuttering Waynesburg prison and delaying the opening of two new prisons, one of which is in Luzerne Township. There isn’t any pressure on lawmakers to change the terms. What might work is if Common Pleas judges across the state began the practice adopted several years ago by Fayette County. Quit exercising the option to allow defendants sentenced to two to five years to serve it locally. Require state time for longer sentences. Lawmakers will then be forced either to keep prisons open or pay the tab to the counties for assuming the burden.