Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

The newly expanded portion of the Blair County Prison was used as a backdrop yesterday to announce the details of the first part of a study on prison overcrowding in Pennsylvania.
Members of the Prison Overcrowding Task Force of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania were on hand to hear about the findings of phase one of the study which showed overcrowding to be a top concern among counties.
“The first step in identifying solutions to overcrowding in Pennsylvania’s county prisons was to define and identify the scope of the problem,” said Blair County Commissioner John Eichelberger. “Indeed, there is a problem.
“On one given day last year, the survey found the number of overcrowded jails was 16 when ‘overcrowding’ was defined as exceeding 100 percent of capacity,” said Eichelberger. “However, when applying a crowded standard of 90 percent or 80 percent capacity, the number of overcrowded jails increases to 31 and 42 repectively…that is 78 percent of the reporting prisons overcrowded at some level on that day.”
The counties who responded to the survey indicated that unless a viable solution is found to county prison overcrowding, almost one-third of them project the need for new prison construction within the next two years.
Eichelberger, chairman of the task force, offered remarks yesterday at a news conference at a podium set up outside one of the new cells at the Blair County Prison. He then introduced the author of the survey which was used to put together the first phase of the study.
Dr. Alan Harland, professor with the Temple University Department of Criminal Justice explained he’s ready to begin work on a second phase of the study.
“The aim (of the second phase of the study) is to obtain a more in-depth understanding of overcrowding to provide information and direct assistance to counties confronting the problem now and in the future.”
Eichelberger explained why the newly expanded prison was chosen to release details about the study.
“This really fit the mold for what we are trying to get at with this study,” said Eichelberger. “We built twice in the last 20 years-we continue to have an overcrowding issue as we have more and more people.
“The female population in Blair County has almost doubled in the last five years,” said Eichelberger. “We are really struggling to meet the needs of an increasing inmate population.”
Harland said the initial phase covered both acute and chronic overcrowding issues.
Blair County is one of only 11 counties who responded to the survey to indicate it has a prison population task force. Harland noted other counties are also addressing the issue but may not have an official task force in place.
Other findings regarding Blair County showed its prison was overcrowded at both 100 and 90 percent on “study day.” Future overcrowding was considered likely or very likely while future construction was considered very unlikely or unlikely. Capacity in the county was rated as small at under 300.
Blair County results also showed a chronic problem with overcrowding at 100 percent for a full 12 months prior to the study; one of only six counties which fell into that category. Blair County was also listed as overcrowded at 90 percent for a full 12 months prior to the study; one of 14 counties with that designation.
This summer, CCAP will begin the second phase of the study pending funding from the National Institute of Justice.
For more information about the study contact CCAP, 717-232-7554. Information about CCAP is available at www.pacounties.org. CCAP is a statewide, nonprofit bipartisan association representing all of the state’s 67 counties according to a press release issued yesterday about the study.

By Rick