Overtime at the Lackawanna County Prison is approaching $500,000 already this year partly because of an increase in the inmate population, Warden Robert McMillan said Wednesday.
The warden told the county prison board he anticipates overtime costs will moderate when 10 new corrections officers who are undergoing training join the shift complement at the jail.
"It will be probably another five or six weeks before they impact overtime," Mr. McMillan said.
Through the pay period that ended April 9, the prison spent $477,943 on overtime, compared to about $392,932 during the same period last year, according to an analysis the warden presented to the board. The prison budgeted $1.4 million for overtime in 2013.
Mr. McMillan attributed the higher overtime costs to the jump in the prison population since the jail started housing state parole violators under a contract with the state Department of Corrections. The county is being paid $65 a day for each parole violator held at the prison.
County officials previously estimated the contract will generate at least $2 million annually in new revenue for the prison.
"It's not a bad thing," the warden said. "It's a good thing."
Mr. McMillan said outside hospital stays are also pushing up overtime. When an inmate is admitted to the hospital, the prison is required to assign two officers per shift to provide security.
"That's six officers every time someone is in the hospital for a day," the warden said. "That has a significant impact on overtime."
The prison board will alter the way it approves prison expenditures after county Controller Gary DiBileo pointed out state law requires board approval of invoices before his office certifies the payments. Past practice has been for the warden to send invoices directly to the controller's office for review, bypassing the board.
Mr. DiBileo said the need for prior board approval was only recently brought to his attention by Judge Vito Geroulo, who also sits on the prison board. His staff will work with the warden and the commissioners' office to sort out the logistics of the new procedures to minimize delays in payments to vendors.
"Better there is a delay in payment than we be found to be paying them illegally," Judge Geroulo said.
Businessman Bob Bolus appeared again before the board to complain about the medical treatment he received while an inmate at the jail for a month last summer.
Mr. Bolus, whose insurance fraud conviction was recently upheld by the state Superior Court, said he may have to return to the prison to continue serving his six- to 23-month sentence. He is entitled to quality medical care if he goes back, he said.
"I don't want to make sure I'm getting adequate treatment," Mr. Bolus said. "I want to make sure I'm getting proper treatment."
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com