CLEARFIELD – Having more employees at the Clearfield County Jail is already saving the county money.
During Tuesday’s Prison Board meeting, Controller Robert Edwards informed the board that at this point the yearly budget for the jail is ahead by $55,000.
Part of this is lower wage costs. Staffing issues have reportedly been a long-time problem at the jail, but now there are enough corrections officers so there is less need for overtime hours.
It was noted that there have been four new COs hired without any staffing losses.
Judge Fredric Ammerman, chairman of the board, thanked the county commissioners for their help in solving the ongoing staffing problems at the facility.
Edwards also explained that regular expenses, including pension contributions will deplete the surplus as the year goes on.
In his report, Warden Dave Gallagher stated that housing costs are showing a deficit over $35,000, which has been billed to inmates, but only about $1,600 has been received.
“We are hardly getting anything back.”
Gallagher went on to explain that inmates being transferred to state prison “spend everything” so there is also nothing left in their commissary accounts to cover any damages they leave behind.
He suggested taking 10 percent of all inmates’ deposits into their accounts.
Commissioner John Sobel stated he thought this was already being done and District Attorney Ryan Sayers said he thought the board had already approved that.
Gallagher said he couldn’t find any information on this, but would look further into it.
The warden also reported:
- There was a suicide attempt at the jail but the inmate was uninjured.
- A situation with another inmate who refused to return a tray and threatened a CO required the use of chemical munitions. There were no injuries in that situation.
- The fence where an inmate attempted to escape last year has been fortified and reinforced.
- The daily average of inmates was 173 with 34 on home detention.
