CLEARFIELD – Staffing concerns at both the county jail and the probation offices were discussed at Tuesday’s Prison Board meeting.
With recent resignations, the jail is short five corrections officers, according to Warden David Gallagher, but he does have some interviews set up already with potential employees, he reported to the board.
President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman mentioned that currently there are 55 people on supervised bail, which requires more extensive supervision from a probation officer and currently they are all handled by the same officer.
“We are not putting people on supervised bail because of this,” he stated. “The probation office can’t handle what we already have.”
Supervised bail is used for someone who may have already had their bail revoked, but may not need to be incarcerated. They report more often to probation and have regular drug tests.
Not having the option of supervised bail will in turn, lead to more people being placed in the jail.
Ammerman also noted that there are still staffing shortages in the Children, Youth and Family Services as well as Domestic Relations departments.
The probation office, which is fully staffed, would need to actually add positions to handle their ever-increasing workload.
Another topic on the agenda was the issue of alerting the public to an inmate escape, which was brought to light after an inmate broke out in late May.
In the June meeting, both Sheriff Mike Churner and District Attorney Ryan Sayers stated they were not alerted about the escape until three hours later.
The public had also voiced outrage that they were not warned about an escapee.
This need led to the formation of a sub-committee to determine the best way to handle this type of information.
In the July meeting, Commissioner Dave Glass stated that Commissioner Mary Tatum, who was not in attendance, had put together a phone tree to disperse information more quickly.
According to information supplied by the board, the procedure is for the warden to notify the board as soon as possible and provide inmate information to the DA to ensure that a press release is quickly issued for the public.
“If the DA is unable to distribute a press release, the identifying inmate information will be passed along to the commissioners’ office to distribute,” the policy says.
Gallagher pointed out that the county 911 Web site, clearfield911.com, has a small icon where the public can sign up to receive text or e-mail alerts.
Glass suggested revisiting this issue and ways to publicize the “One Call” system at the next meeting on Aug. 15.
In other business:
- Gallagher stated the average population of the jail was 183 with 29 people on home detention. There are six participating in the work release program with two more inmates approved this week. It was noted that not many people in the jail are fit to work.
- The jail has received over $182,000 from the state that provides funds for the work release program. Deputy Warden Susan McQuillen discovered this resource last year. Ammerman commented that “she’s worth her weight in gold” for her efforts. Glass noted that this money was not included in the budget for the year, which will help with expenses.
- The board hired two new COs, Terri Lewis and Haley Hunter and accepted resignations from COs Samuel Muir, Avery Gisewhite and Collin Meeker.