Jail officers praised for analysis

Some of the jail’s beds
cannot be used for the
general population.

MERCER, Pa. — Three corrections officers were commended by the Mercer County Prison Board on Monday for their work on preparing an analysis of the jail population.

The prison board issued formal commendations to Lt. Phil Hartsock, and Corrections Officers Eddie Hedglin and Chris Adams. Hartsock supervised Hedglin and Adams, who have voluntarily devoted a combined 32 to 40 hours per week over the last six weeks to collecting data for the report.

They expect the study to be completed next month.

James Epstein, Mercer County district attorney and prison board president, said the men did the work, which was well above their required duties and pay grade, with no extra remuneration. Both have worked at the jail for three years, Warden Jeffrey Gill said.

The study is a breakdown of the inmate population according to the reason for incarceration. The board hopes to use the survey as a long-range planning tool to avoid jail overcrowding.

Also Monday, Gill reported that 10 inmates were temporarily housed in a multipurpose room at the jail in September when the jail population again reached a record average high of 271 inmates.

The jail’s capacity is 280. But some beds are in specific areas — for example, women or high security — and cannot be used for the general population.

Gill said the population was back down to 254 Monday morning. The previous high average was recorded with 265 in August and 254 in July. The average daily population for 2007 so far is 254.H The jail opened in December 2005.

Don Fedorczyk, intermediate punishment program coordinator, reported that 643 mandatory sentenced days were saved in September through use of the house arrest.