CLEARFIELD – After discussing the matter many times, the Clearfield County Prison Board voted Tuesday to enact a processing fee when doing intake of new inmates.
The fee, which is $50, will be taken from the inmate’s commissary account before the funds are available to the inmate for other uses.
Board members discussed how inmates are charged for room and board, but the Clearfield County Jail never recovers the funds from the inmates.
Warden David Kessling noted that the inmates always seem to have more than adequate funds on commissary for things like snacks, phone time, etc.
There are occasionally indigent inmates who do not have commissary, and Kessling said they are still provided with basic items from the commissary, including toiletries, regardless of ability to pay.
Kessling added that the costs associated with keeping inmates, in addition to food and shelter, include providing clothing and shoes, and that it takes two corrections officers to do the intake.
He added that the clothing is often damaged by the prisoners and needs to regularly be replaced.
There are other prison facilities that charge an intake fee, he said, though not all do.
After some more discussion, Commissioner David Glass made a motion to enact the fee with District Attorney Ryan Sayers making the second. Those in favor were Glass, Sayers, President Judge Fredric Ammerman and Commissioner John Sobel.
Voting against was Controller Tom Adamson. Absent were Sheriff Mike Churner and Commissioner Tony Scotto.
During the housing report, it was noted there are currently no cases of COVID-19 among the inmates.
“I’m not sure what you and the staff did out there,” Ammerman remarked to the warden, adding that there was a fear that with the close quarters the virus would run rampant, but they managed to keep the virus under control.
Kessling said it was a joint effort with the staff at CCJ as well as help from the commissioners, DA, judges and police in finding ways to keep people from being incarcerated if there were other options available.
The board also discussed ongoing billing for maintenance issues and Ammerman asked why the position of a maintenance person hadn’t been filled.
Kessling said there were multiple reasons, including pay, the amount of work and how someone who works at the jail has to be extra vigilant about equipment, tools and so on.