Prison board hires part-time officers

MERCER, Pa. -- The Mercer County Prison Board hired four part-time correctional officers to replace four guards who were recently promoted to full time.
They are Douglas Nehlen of Greenville, Rodney Harris of Slippery Rock, Kristen Double of Grove City and Tiffany Nelson of Mercer. They will each be paid $10.58 per hour.
Part-time correctional officer Patricia Gizdic, hometown not available, was promoted to full-time to replace Mary Wright who resigned. She will be paid $11.76 hourly. And Tracy Angermeier of Mercer was hired as a part-time clerical assistant at the jail at $10.02 hourly.
In other business at its meeting Monday, the board heard an audit report indicating that the inmates' commissary fund had been depleted by many purchases needed for the new jail. The commissary fund is generated by profits from inmates' canteen purchases. By law, the profits must be used to benefit inmates and they are then used for inmate personal and entertainment items such as satellite television, coffee, blankets and toiletries.
To replenish this fund, the prison board agreed in February to place commissions from inmate telephones into the account. The commission the jail receives on inmate telephones had been going into the county general fund, officials said.