Change in Franklin County's criminal justice system means more money for the county
Franklin County's changed attitude about incarceration over the past seven years has reduced the inmate population at the county jail and saved big money. Warden John Wetzel reported to the Franklin County Prison Board on Thursday that the jail population was 293 inmates. Without a change in the criminal justice policy, that population would have been 411, he said.
Franklin County Commissioner Bob Ziobrowski estimated the savings to the county at about $2 million. He figured the savings by comparing the cost of jailing an offender versus the cost of sending that person to the Day Reporting Center.
The Day Reporting Center addresses issues, such as drug abuse, that lead to a person's criminal behavior. Selected inmates are given the opportunity to change their lives through daily counseling, education and employment at the center on Loudon Street. The center, established in April 2007, has an average of 125 clients.
Wetzel termed Ziobrowski's savings a "soft" number, and offered a more solid one -- the jail earned $709,000 from leased beds in 2008. The jail bills the U.S. Marshals Service and Fulton County for housing their prisoners.
The county has the beds to lease without hiring additional staff, Wetzel said. The county opened the $24 million jail on Opportunity Avenue in June 2007.
"We needed a new jail, not just because of crowding, but because the old jail wasn't safe," Wetzel said.
On Wetzel's first day as warden, Jan. 19, 2002, the jail housed 322 inmates. It held 293 on Thursday. "There are very few jails in the country that can claim that," Wetzel said.
He credited the leadership of the county prison board and Criminal Justice Advisory Board -- composed of judges, probation officers, attorneys and others in the criminal justice system.
"We (at the jail) don't control the front door," Wetzel said. "We don't control the back door. This isn't a 100-percent-success-type business, but we're headed in the right direction."
Franklin County Judge Douglas Herman said Wetzel has contributed his leadership and energy to ideas that predated his hiring.
"Every good team needs a good lineman," Commissioner Robert Thomas told Wetzel, a former standout offensive lineman on the football team at Bloomsburg University.
About three-fourths of all county tax revenue goes into the criminal justice system.
Inmates are spending less time in jail. The average length of stay per inmate has declined about 10 days because of the Day Reporting Center, according to Wetzel. Violators charged with technical parole violations, such as drinking or relapsing to drug use, are given treatment instead of jail time. In 2002 the county lacked treatment programs. Three months was the average jail time for a technical violation.
The average length of stay also reflects the efficiency of getting persons charged with a crime to trial and mandatory sentencing, such as 2004 guidelines for violators charged with driving under the influence.
The county's unique judicial system should be further developed, Wetzel said.
"There's a lot more juice to squeeze out of this lemon," Franklin County Judge Douglas Herman said. "We'll squeeze this lemon dry."
----------Jim Hook can be reached at 262-4759 or jhook@publicopinionnews.com.
The Franklin County Jail leased beds for more than 10,000 inmate days in 2008:
The U.S. Marshals Service paid $219,300 to house prisoners awaiting federal trial in Harrisburg. The program started in July.
Fulton County paid $490,495 for its offenders, an increase of $86,000 from 2007.
The jail also received $23,200 in payments from the Social Security Administration for inmates, up $13,000 from 2007. It's an indication that the jail is getting more seriously mentally ill inmates, according to Warden John Wetzel.
The jail collected $61,282 in 2008 from inmates who pay room and board fees, a decrease of $5,600 from 2007.
