The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Township residents, concerned about security and the effect an additional 2,000-inmate prison would have on the water supply, sewer system, roads and environment, have launched a petition drive opposing it. Resident Pat Rusiloski said she has collected hundreds of signatures in just under two weeks.

Rusiloski plans to give copies of the petition to state Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston, and the Jackson Township supervisors.

“I’m very sensitive to the concerns of my constituents in Jackson Township and the Back Mountain,” said Mundy. “At this point, I’m trying to keep that location out of the capital budget. I don’t know if I will be successful or not. I let the department (of corrections) know I would rather find another location for the prison.”

SCI-Huntingdon, opened in Huntingdon County in 1889; SCI-Rockview, opened in Centre County in 1915; and SCI-Dallas, opened in 1960, have desirable sites for new prisons because they are on a “decent amount of land, and the facilities are older,” Department of Corrections spokeswoman Susan E. McNaughton said.

“I don’t know that our other prisons have the amount of land those institutions do,” she said.

There are more than 45,500 inmates in the state prison system. SCI-Dallas has a capacity of only 1,750, but its population was 2,084 as of May 31.

To ease overcrowding, the Department of Corrections put a request in the state capital budget for new prisons to be built alongside three existing facilities, with the hopes that if the prison population declines, the older prisons can be closed, McNaughton said. Construction of new prisons will depend on whether the state legislature approves the budget and Gov. Ed Rendell releases the funding.

Resident Chris Miller said a new prison would strain Jackson Township’s resources, from its water supply to its roads.

“We have huge trucks coming up and down these country roads, these small roads, daily,” he said.

But for Miller, the most serious issue is safety.

Terry Lee Brown, who was jailed at SCI-Dallas on charges of retail theft, assaulted an employee and fled in one of the prison’s pickup trucks on Jan. 8, 1998. He was captured by state police the next day near State Routes 11 and 29 in Plymouth Township.

The escape of Michael McCloskey, who was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, and convicted arsonist Anthony Yang sparked a massive manhunt on Aug. 16, 1999. The two Philadelphia felons cut through the bars on their cell window and escaped over the prison’s razor-wire-topped fence using a makeshift ladder.

McCloskey and Yang were captured in Hanover Township on Aug. 19, 1999. Miller remembers “overflow crowds” at a hearing held at Penn State in Lehman Township afterwards.

“All of the Back Mountain was outraged and in fear because of that escape,” Miller said.

Mundy is aware of residents’ worries.

“I really don’t share those concerns about security because the new prisons are very secure, and this one would be state-of-the-art,” Mundy said. Security at SCI-Dallas has been “dramatically improved” since the 1999 escape, she added.

Rusiloski doesn’t agree.

“They say state-of-the-art. They put these up and they forget about them,” she said. “Maintain what you have before you build a new one.”

Lack of maintenance is a chronic problem, she said.

“The grounds are overgrown, they don’t cut the fields. If there’s ever an escape, they’re never going to even see the inmates,” Rusiloski said.

Sirens at the prison are supposed to be tested every Wednesday at noon, she said. Last Wednesday, Rusiloski sat beneath the one on Huntsville and her friend Bonnie Dombroski sat in her backyard, which is near the prison.

They never heard the sirens, Rusiloski said. She later learned they were broken.

Jackson Township Supervisors David Roskos, Allen Fox and John Wilkes Jr. scheduled a meeting on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the fire hall on Chase Road. Local, state and federal elected officials are invited, as are all residents of the Back Mountain, Wilkes said.

“The whole purpose of the meeting is to take public input on the expansion,” Wilkes said. “People in the area have the right to speak, and to have their voice heard ... Obviously, I’ve heard more people against it. If people think it’s a good idea, they should speak for it.”

Mundy said she would be in Harrisburg on Thursday because the House is in session, but she would send a representative.

http://www.citizensvoice.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18513913&BRD=2259&PAG=4ept_id=455154&rfi=6