LAWRENCE COUNTY Prison board reviewing new warden candidates

The jail's warden resigned amid controversy in April.
By VIRGINIA ROSS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The Lawrence County Prison Board is looking to narrow the field of candidates for the warden's post at the county jail.
County Commissioner Steve Craig, a member of the prison board, said board members are reviewing r & eacute;sum & eacute;s and applications and will each choose five top candidates and present the names of those candidates to the board for consideration.
He said the county has received several applications for the position.
The board discussed the warden's post at a meeting Wednesday at the jail. Much of that meeting was conducted in executive session.
Inmate scandals
Former jail warden Mark Fellows was facing the threat of being fired when he resigned in April. He was appointed warden in January 2003.
Fellows quit in the midst of several controversial episodes including the alleged assault of an inmate by two other inmates. The inmate was beaten up and seriously injured just a few days before Fellows resigned.
County officials have said numerous other problems occurred while Fellows was warden. They said the work release program was discontinued after it was discovered inmates on work release were smuggling drugs into the jail. There had also been fires at the jail and an increase in the number of inmates going to the hospital, which contributed to higher medical bills. Also, a suicide and an inmate death resulting from an apparent drug overdose were reported.
The prison board accepted Fellows' resignation, effective April 13, and appointed deputy warden Mark Schaas as acting warden.