CLEARFIELD – Morale has taken a positive turn at the Clearfield County Jail.
Warden David C. Gallagher, who was appointed as the new warden in September, reported to the Prison Board during Tuesday’s meeting that they have hired four new corrections officers and three additional candidates will be offered positions once their background checks are complete.
If accepted, this would give the jail a total of 33 COs.
“That’s fantastic,” responded District Attorney Ryan Sayers.
Commissioner David Glass asked if this means that the overtime costs will be going down and Gallagher confirmed it does.
When Glass asked how things are going at the jail in general, Gallagher stated that the morale is increasing. He explained he has an “open door” policy for discussions and has made some scheduling changes that are helping.
Earlier this year, the prison had problems with short staffing leading to a “call off,” during which many staff members on the same shift called in sick.
Since that time, a new labor agreement has been settled with the starting wage for COs increased to $15 an hour, according to a previous article.
Commissioner John Sobel commented that when the morale of the jail increases, “the commissioners’ morale goes up too.”
Controller Robert Edwards told the board that financially the jail is still ahead of its budget, but expenses are increasing in part because of drug treatment programs.
Sobel stated that he asked solicitor Heather Bozovich to look into the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) program and its current requirements.
MAT assists inmates addicted to opiates while they are incarcerated.
Bozovich attended the meeting to report that the program is still evolving but at this time the county is “under no obligation to provide treatment” for inmates who are not on a program prior to their incarceration.
The idea is to avoid setbacks in recovery as Bozovich noted it is detrimental to inmates to cut them off from their medication if they are already in treatment.
Sheriff Michael Churner asked if the medication could be stopped if there is proof they are abusing it.
Bozovich responded that each case needs to be evaluated by a doctor to determine if there is abuse and if there is, things can be changed.
Although there are various lawsuits regarding the program and the implementation of it at prisons still pending, she concluded that currently the county is not required to have the program open to everybody.
Last month the board heard presentations from three groups interested in providing the program, including counseling at the jail. No decision has been made on that issue.
In other business, following an executive session, the board approved the hiring of Eric Bush of Clearfield as the deputy warden- operations.