The Luzerne County prison on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre is seen in a file photo. Several Luzerne County Council members toured the facility on Wednesday as talk of considering a replacement for the aging prison continues.
Times Leader file photo
Several Luzerne County Council members said their Wednesday morning tour of the county prison on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre left a strong impression.
“It’s a well-built building. The problem is, logistically it does not work for today’s correctional rules and regulations,” said county Councilman Brian Thornton.
County Correctional Services Division Head Mark Rockovich has said the common belief the prison was designed to hold approximately 500 inmates is false because it had been remodeled around 1986, lowering its capacity to 250 inmates.
The facility has been largely running at double capacity since the 1990s, when officials dealt with the rising population by switching to bunk beds in most cells and then later converting six day rooms into housing units capable of holding 10 inmates each, he has said.
“The cells were built for one inmate, and they’re housing two,” Thornton said. “There are two people right on top of each other living 24-7 in basically a large closet. You can imagine the tension.”
Thornton and Council members Chris Perry and John Lombardo said they were surprised that a tiny space must be used to assess and process both new arrivals and those leaving the building for court proceedings or permanent release.
“That’s not the norm,” Thornton said.
Perry said it’s a “bottleneck” to get in and out. He described the cramped layout as “kind of shocking.”
“It was eye-opening,” Perry said. “How they can function is beyond me. They do a great job over there. I commend them.”
Lombardo, the council vice chair, said he spent about three hours inside the facility and was extremely impressed with how the staff functions squeezed into the space.
“To see it firsthand for myself, it made a difference,” Lombardo said, praising staffers for their candid feedback on the challenges they are facing.
The council members said the visit reinforced the need to start exploring options, such as the closed State Correctional Institution at Retreat in Newport Township that the state is willing to transfer to the county for $1.
During council’s Strategic Initiatives Committee meeting Wednesday night, Lombardo said he was concerned to see so many blind spots in the county’s current prison.
Councilman Kevin Lescavage said he observed numerous blind spots during the tour.
“I think there are disasters waiting to happen,” Lescavage said during the committee meeting. “I had my eyes opened up in that facility today. They really do a good job based on the way that prison is designed.”
Lescavage and Thornton said the existing prison is not in bad shape structurally.
“I thought it was a learning process today,” Councilman Stephen J. Urban said of the prison tour, and Councilman Gregory Wolovich Jr. concurred.
Lombardo said he’d like to see an assessment of pros/cons and costs to adapt the Newport Township site for a county prison so the option could be compared to the investment that would be required to build a new prison.
Thornton said the Newport Township site is ideal because it is remote and already housing a prison.
“I hope it works for us because I don’t know where else we could put a prison. I don’t think anybody in the county wants a prison by their home,” Thornton said.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
