After years of overcrowding, Luzerne County’s prison population has started to decline, sparking cautious optimism among officials.
“This is a big deal. I think we’re seeing the fruit of our labor there,” county Manager C. David Pedri said Thursday.
His monthly division report, released Thursday, says the average daily population at the prison, on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre, was 474 in December — a 1.6 percent decrease from the prior month’s 482.
The prison was designed to hold up to 505 inmates but typically has been at or above capacity in recent years. The average daily population was 520 in September and decreased to 495 in October, the report says.
A chart documenting the trend says the monthly population high was 536 in September and 488 in December.
Pedri credits the leadership of Mark Rockovich, who was promoted to correctional division head in July, and the formation of a prison population task force committee in September to target overcrowding. Among the group’s missions: shrinking the 60 to 80 percent of county prison inmates awaiting trial, as opposed to serving sentences.
Making a dent
Task force member Michael Shucosky, the county’s court administrator, cited a new initiative that put a dent in the population.
The prison now sends Shucosky a weekly list of all prisoners awaiting trial, sentencing or other adjudication highlighting those who are eligible for transfer to a state facility, release on bail or another disposition that will move them out of the prison, Shucosky said.
For example, many inmates lodged on lesser charges are willing to plead guilty if they will be sentenced to time already served, he said.
“The court has been very cooperative in addressing these,” Shucosky said.
Cooperative efforts
Rockovich said several departments have been involved in solutions, including the sheriff’s office, which has recognized the urgency of quickly transporting inmates back to their home prisons after they are brought here to appear for a county court proceeding.
Chief Public Defender Steven Greenwald, another task force member, has been working on implementing a new automated system that will notify defendants of court hearings through text messages, email and phone calls. He has said a “huge number” of prison inmates are lodged for failure to attend court proceedings, and many maintain they did not receive mail notification. Full implementation of this initiative is expected by April 11, Pedri said.
Rockovich thanked fellow task force members in the division head report, saying the average daily inmate population reduction in recent months stems from “better communication and understanding.” The other committee members are county District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, Probation Services Director Michael Vecchio, Conflict Counsel Attorney Administrator John Hakim and Tara Valet, deputy administrator of Luzerne-Wyoming Counties Mental Health and Developmental Services.
“Although there is an expected increase in daily population for the month of January, due to the large trial list, this population will be manageable due to the past and ongoing cooperation of the group,” Rockovich wrote.
Undeserved tax breaks
An update on the repayment of unallowable homestead tax breaks also was included in Pedri’s report. As of Dec. 31, the county has collected $193,210 from property owners who incorrectly received real estate tax discounts on multiple properties, even though the law allows the break for only one owner-occupied primary residence per property owner.
Participants saved $45 to $57 on their county taxes annually from 2009 until the county-funded break ended in 2015.
The county billed 1,400 property owners a combined $345,344 in August based on a list of potential errors formulated by the assessor’s and controller’s offices following the March 2015 discovery that several past and present officials had received too many discounts.
County officials had stressed the billing likely included some allowable breaks because different owners shared the same name or had second homes deeded by parents who continue to live in them, known as a “life tenancy.”
The assessor’s office withdrew bills for 268 property owners who submitted valid explanations to date, the county treasurer’s office said.
Bills unpaid after Dec. 31 will be turned over to the county tax-claim office, which will impose additional penalties and proceed with a tax sale if the delinquency remains for more than two years. A total 319 bills were unpaid as of Jan. 3, but the number may decrease due to pending approval of documentation attempting to justify the break, the treasurer’s office said.
Property owners continue to receive gambling-funded school tax breaks based on the homestead applications processed by the county assessor’s office.
In response to the controversy, county officials implemented new policies requiring a high-level assessor’s clerk to review all new homestead requests and asked tax collectors and school district business managers to monitor recipients in their jurisdictions for potential violations.
