Stoffa Gets Unanimous Approval for West Easton Treatment Center

It began with a simple handshake. There was no written agreement, no set price. It was just two men, County Executive John Stoffa and entrepreneur Abe Atiyeh, who trusted each other.

That's something of a mystery, because they're as different as night and day.

Stoffa is quiet, reserved, cheap with a public dollar and is known above anything else for his integrity. He is often criticized, and with some merit, for indecisiveness.

Atiyeh is loud, spontaneous, financially generous and is known even by those who like him as something of a rascal. He is often criticized, and with some merit, for impulsiveness.

Yet in what has to go down as one of God's little miracles, these opposites attracted and grew to admire each other over the past years. Stoffa and Atiyeh encountered hurdle after hurdle in an often Quixotic quest to establish a treatment center, instead of a warehouse, for the worst element of society - our criminals.

Why? Because they're human beings, and deserve to be treated like human beings instead of animals.

At last night's Council meeting, a $447,125 lease for a 100-bed treatment center for DUI and non-support offenders was unanimously approved, 8-0, with Council Prez John Cusick absent as the result of a teaching obligation. The center will be located at the former Chipman Mills in tiny West Easton, which will get a "temporary resident fee" from Atiyeh for every person housed.

Prison Advisory Board Chair William Argeros and anti-gang activist Terrence Miller told Council that despite a 2006 Expansion, the jail is overcrowded to the point where some inmates end up sleeping on the floor. "This is not the answer," Argeros said of current conditions.

Terrence Miller

Miller noted how we dehumanize persons lost to a life of crime. "We use ex-convict. We use prisoner. We use element. We use derelict. We use addicts. Perhaps if we used different words like person, father, son, brother, then the reasons for creating a facility would change."

Tonight, you will be asked to vote on a lease for West Easton. This is not just a normal lease, but represents a philosophical change in direction. Approving this lease will be an historical event whereby we alter direction in how we treat people who are incarcerated at our jail.

But it is Executive John Stoffa who made the most salient points. Below is an excerpt.

It's Cheaper and Will Reduce Crime

The last building expansion at the jail occurred in 2006. It was budgeted for $22 million that created 243 new beds. This project is budgeted at $1.8 million for 100 beds.

Never before have we had a second site which emphasizes treatment rather than just warehousing people who recidivate at a 69% level. If approved, we'll join a short list of counties in Pennsylvania like Franklin, Allegheny and Pike, who are reducing recidivism dramatically with programs such as this.

This has been a long journey to this point. From Glendon, where we suffered defeat. From Bethlehem Township. And finally, to West Easton.

Community Jail Workforce Proposed

I would also like to begin a community jail workforce to provide cleanup for various community projects, such as cemeteries, especially veterans' graves, those graves that are neglected, Civil War, Revolutionary War. Clean up our roadways. If you want to see a disgusting sight, just go up 191 at 22 and look at the garbage all over the place. This effort would take care of issues like that. Clean up our roadways, parks and the like.

Plans would be to seek first year funding from the Gaming Commission for a van, supplies, tools and the funding for a supervisor to run the program.

Atiyeh, West Easton Borough, Thanked

Finally, I would like to recognize and thank Mr. Abe Atiyeh for his continuing support for this effort. To date, he has not received one penny from this County while spending thousands of his own dollars. Without his involvement, this would not have been possible. And also, to the Borough of West Easton, for their vision and willingness to approve this project. We need to prove to them that we will be a good neighbor and a good partner.