The news the Lackawanna County Prison must add 11 employees to comply with a federal sexual victimization prevention law was tempered Wednesday with the revelation the jail has been chosen to house state parole violators.
The bottom line, Warden Robert McMillan said, is the expenses associated with meeting the dictates of the Prison Rape Elimination Act should be offset by the new revenue from the state Department of Corrections.
The county salary board approved the creation of a PREA coordinator position at an annual salary of $40,000, along with 10 new corrections officer positions at $32,972 each.
Mr. McMillan later told the county prison board the hires were necessary to bring the jail into compliance with PREA, which was enacted in 2003 and amended in 2010.
The prison is currently developing procedures to implement PREA by the Aug. 20 deadline, he said.
In addition to hiring a full-time coordinator, the jail will be required to provide training for all employees, volunteers and contractors, who must also undergo periodic background checks.
In addition, PREA will require all offenders who are under 18 to be housed out of sight and sound of adult offenders, he said.
"That is a major change in how we do business," Mr. McMillan said.
The warden said the prison has applied for a grant to cover the salary of the PREA coordinator for the first year, but the overall annual cost of the new employees, including salaries and benefits, will be $600,000 to $700,000.
He anticipates the revenue from housing the state parole violators will be enough to cover that.
County officials were optimistic of landing a contract to house parole violators after the DOC announced unexpectedly in October that it was removing regular state inmates from the jail. The decision knocked a $1.75 million hole in the county's tentative 2013 budget.
Mr. McMillan said he was notified in December that the prison had been selected to house parole violators, who began arriving last month.
As of Wednesday, the prison had about 60 state violators, the warden said. It is receiving $60 per inmate per day to house the prisoners, although the amount could change under a new agreement being negotiated with the DOC.
On another matter, the prison board voted unanimously to establish a methadone treatment program at the jail for pregnant female inmates who are addicted to opiates.
"There is a danger to that person, but even a greater danger to the infant if that mother were just forced to go through withdrawal," Judge Vito Geroulo, who introduced the motion, told other members of the board.
Contact the writer: dsingleton@ timesshamrock.com