Prison board hires deputy warden for jail

NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The Lawrence County Prison Board has hired a new deputy warden for the county jail.
The board, at its monthly meeting this week, promoted Capt. Robert Porada to the post.
Porada has worked at the jail for 22 years, first as a corrections officer and then as a captain. With his new position his annual salary was increased from $35,000 to $39,500.
In other matters, the board agreed to purchase a drug-detection instrument called a VaporTracer.
The hand-held, portable device can be carried into a cell to allow jail staff to determine whether there is residue from illegal substances such as narcotics, crack cocaine and marijuana in the cell or on the inmate. It also can be used to conduct random drug tests.
Its estimated cost is about $28,000. Prison board members said they are hopeful that purchasing the device will enable the county to reinstate its work-release program at the jail.
The board discontinued the program after it was discovered inmates were smuggling drugs into the jail, officials said.
Judge Dominick Motto of Lawrence County Common Pleas Court, a prison board member, advocates resuming the program and was instrumental in introducing county officials to the VaporTracer, which is to be paid for from the court's supervisory account.