Wayne prison to receive state inmates

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA - Wayne County Commissioners agreed to form an intergovernmental agreement with the PA Department of Corrections, agreeing to accept 25 of the department’s prisoners.

The prisoners, who are mainly from the state prison at Waymart, will be housed at the county’s new correctional facility in Indian Orchard.

The county will receive $55 per inmate per day, or approximately $20,075 annually for each inmate. The money will be used in the operation of the facility and to offset the debt-service costs of the facility.

Overcrowding of the state prisons is the reason for the transfers, which will also take place in other county correction facilities across the state.

The agreement also spells out responsibility for certain costs of confinement, such as medical and/or prescription medication costs and transportation costs. The county is not required to provide services or programs to these inmates that they do not already provide to county inmates.

“We and Warden Bishop are confident that our facility can accommodate these inmates and maintain a safe and secure environment,” said Brian Smith, chairman of the county commissioners, at the commissioners meeting on July 2.

No formal date of transfer has been set.

In other business, the South Wayne Water and Sewer Authority made a presentation of appreciation to the commissioners and to two members of the county’s Geographic Information System Department (GIS), Aaron Lankford, GIS Coordinator, and Jason Hollister, GIS analyst, for developing a GIS map for the authority.

“They helped us develop a GIS map with the elevations and coordinates of our manhole locations and our water distribution system so that we can operate more efficiently,” said Kevin Clancy, one of the directors of the Roamingwood Sewer and Water Association, located at the Hideout in Hamlin, PA.