New jail receives rating of 100% for compliance

Even the inmates had nothing bad to say about the new jail.
MERCER, Pa. -- The new Mercer County Jail has received a 100 percent compliance rating in a recent state inspection.
Jail Warden Jeffrey Gill told the Mercer County Prison Board on Monday that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections' Office of County Inspections and Services gave the perfect rating after inspecting the new jail last week.
The perfect rating means the jail won't have to be inspected again until 2008. Gill said the inspectors looked at areas such as technology, staff and training as well as interviewing staff and inmates.
"Even the inmates had no unsatisfactory comments," Gill said.
The $22 million state-of-the-art jail, which opened earlier this year, will likely be used as a model for operating other jails in the state, Gill said. He added the old jail on South Diamond Street in Mercer most recently had received an 80 percent compliance rating in 2004.
Also at their meeting, board members hired the Rev. Ralph Newell as a part-time inmate counselor at $12.92 per hour. The Rev. Mr. Newell retired in February from the full-time inmate counselor position he held for almost six years.
Transit stop request
The board also agreed to ask Mercer County Community Transit to make a daily stop at the jail to pick up inmates who have been released. Until now, no provision has been made for inmates' transportation. Those who have no one to pick them up have been walking to Mercer.
District Attorney James Epstein, board president, said neighbors have been complaining about inmates' walking through their yards. County Controller Thomas Amundsen commented there also is a safety issue involved because the road has no berm.
Cost of the transporting the inmates, estimated at about $5 per day, will come from the inmates' commissary fund. Five to 10 inmates are released daily, Gill said. The next prison board meeting was set for 9 a.m. April 24.