MERCER COUNTY Board seeks expansion of program eligibility

By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- The Mercer County Prison Board will ask the state to expand eligibility requirements to allow more convicts to use the Day Reporting Center.
Eligibility is very limited, said District Attorney James Epstein, chairman of the prison board.
Only nonviolent, repeat offenders can participate, and that base is very small, Epstein said Monday, noting the county has had only nine people go through its program since it was started 15 months ago.
The center is for convicts under house arrest. A van picks them up at home, takes them to the Farrell center for counseling, educational assistance and job training and takes them home.
State and federal grants totaling $393,000 pay for the program, but the small number of people eligible to use it doesn't justify the expense, Epstein said.
The program is designed to handle as many as 20 people five hours a day, five days a week for three months.
Mercer County isn't the only program being underutilized, he said, noting there are a number of Pennsylvania counties with the same complaint.
Epstein said the prison board will ask the state to expand eligibility requirements to include street-level drug users and abusers, DUI offenders and minor offenders.
Broadening the base would fit in with a public demand for local drug and alcohol treatment centers.
Those treatment centers were a top priority listed in a recent public survey in the Farrell-Sharon area by the Weed 'n' Seed program, he said.