CLEARFIELD – It’s official. The Clearfield County Jail is doing better financially than it has in a while.
During Tuesday’s Prison Board meeting, it was noted by County Commissioner Dave Glass that with the end of the year almost here, the jail is well under-budget. As of November, they still had over $1 million, he said.
He credited Warden David Kessling for the turnaround during a difficult year and thanked him for working together with the courts.
President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman, chair of the board, agreed: “we are not used to seeing that,” adding Kessling had done this within less than a year.
Kessling also credited both the personnel of the sheriff’s office and the probation office for their support.
“It’s everybody,” he said.
Kessling reported that currently there is only one staff member positive for COVID and only seven inmates.
At this point, visits have been suspended, and there are no classes or counseling happening.
Those infected have been put in housing by themselves, which has led to the numbers going down. Earlier there were 15 staff and 16 inmates who tested positive, he said.
Ammerman noted that some of the preliminary hearings have been cancelled and others are being handled at the Courthouse Annex.
“It seems like you’ve got a good handle on this,” Ammerman stated.
Kessling reported there were two assaults at the jail since the last meeting: one in November and one in October.
Both assaults were minor with one being on a staff member and another was an inmate-on-inmate incident. Both perpetrators had mental or drug issues.
The total of inmates in the prison as of Tuesday was 139 with no one housed in other county jails.
Recently a long-term inmate, Denny Bailey, was transferred from the county jail to state prison, said Sheriff Mike Churner.
Bailey, who was found guilty of the murder of Chase Anderson in 2017 and related charges in early November, had been held in the jail for about four years, due to numerous delays with the case and the pandemic, according to previous reports.
During the last 18 months, he had been in isolation, Kessling said.
Bailey pleaded guilty recently to assaulting a corrections officer, which led to him being in placed in isolation, according to a previous article.
Whether the Prison Board meetings should continue to be held in courtroom #1 rather than the commissioner’s office was discussed briefly.
Ammerman pointed out that with the pandemic still happening, they should continue to meet in the courtroom since it has more room for people to spread out.
This will be discussed again at the re-organizational meeting of the board on Jan. 18.
After a brief executive session, the board voted to send a letter to a former inmate who is claiming he did not receive adequate medical care at the jail, saying there is no evidence to support his claim.
