Closing two prisons and reducing halfway houses across the state may be on the Department of Corrections agenda, but Senator John Eichelberger, Jr. and Senator Jake Corman aren’t sure the Department of Corrections is ready for that move, which is expected to take place by Jan. 26.
Secretary of the DOC, John Wetzel has five prisons to consider for closure. None of them are in the area, but the closures could have far reaching repercussions.
Wetzel said the DOC can close prisons without a security risk because of what he said is a historic reduction in the inmate population, but Eichelberger, Jr. said he wasn’t aware that was the case.
He did say he knows the Justice Reinvestment Act has been working, with the goal of getting non-violent people out of the system and help make them productive again, which would end up saving taxpayers money.
However, Wetzel’s plan also looks at cutting back halfway houses, which Eichelberger, Jr. said is very concerning and added that more halfway houses are needed because they’re an important step in helping reintegrate people to society.
Corman agreed with Eichelberger, Jr. and said the legislature should take a close look at the prison population and consider what will happen with employees before they make a decision.
“I was very surprised that he’s looking at closing down two prisons,” Eichelberger, Jr. said. “That’s a lot of people. That’s a lot of inmates to move. I know that our numbers are still relatively high per prison, per cell.”
“This sort of came out of the blue to us to say the first week of January, we’re going to close two prisons and we’re going to make the decision the third week of January which ones to close,” Corman said. “I think that’s a little quick and I think the legislature needs to provide it’s oversight to make sure that this is being done properly and without any sort of political motivation.”
Eichelberger, Jr. added that at least they were notified this time, referring to the closure of SCI Cresson. He said in that circumstance, they found out a day before the prison was closing and didn’t have a chance to say anything about it.