Wayne commissioners still supporting prison

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE — The federal prison is still the apple of the Wayne County Commissioners’ eyes.

Under intense questioning by a member of the Organization of Concerned Citizens (OCC), a local group against the new prison, the commissioner restated their support of the maximum-security prison being built in Waymart.

During the public comment period at the commissioners meeting on June 7, Mary Denise Malloy grilled the commissioners as to how they viewed the recent eminent domain action by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBP) which condemned the land.

“You are the commissioners of this county which is an agriculture county,” Malloy said. “I want to know how you view the FBP’s action in using eminent domain and ignoring the statutes of the state that preserve the tradition of agriculture.”

The federal government by-passed due process in taking over the land in their condemnation action, Malloy said. “They circumvented the statutes of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by doing so.”

“That’s your opinion,” said commissioner Tony Herzog.

“No, it’s fact,” Malloy retorted. “By their condemnation action they admitted what we have been saying all along—that there are serious title problems connected with the land and that they should not have taken it over without going through the process.”

“The state legislature donated the land to the federal government,” Herzog said. “The legislature should not have done so without first abiding by the law of the state.”

“Again, that’s your opinion,” Herzog said.

Last April when the FBP began working on the land, local farmers could take hay off the 100 acres that were once the farm of the Far View Prison, which is located next to the federal prison site.

Herzog pointed to the many jobs—estimated at 400—that would come to the county. “Good paying jobs with benefits,” he said.

Vince Cudemo, another member of OCC, contested the number of jobs that will go to county residents. “The FBP representative said that the prison guards will be coming with the prisoners when the prison in Lorton, Virginia near Washington, DC closes,” Cudemo said.

The Waymart prison will replace Lorton.

“You can be sure that not all the prison guards will come,” Herzog said.