Brief History of NorCo Jail Expansions

Last week, Northampton County Corrections Director Dan Keen pitched Council on the need for a new jail. He did a great job of pointing out some serious issues and told Council what his ideal jail would look like. But he had no insight on where it should go or how much it will cost. Council was ready to break ground that very day, but their attitude will change once they discover how much this beast, as Keen aptly called the jail, will cost. Also, no matter where it goes, it will be controversial. Even if it stays in Easton, people will complain.

Nobody likes jails.

That reality is lost on some gung-ho members of Council. One of them, Ken Kraft, is a trades union agent. He has a legitimate interest in the jail and attends their meetings. But make no mistake. He no doubt is eyeing up a gold mine in construction labor costs. He likely has no legal conflict of interest, but his involvement certainly has an appearance of impropriety, especially since he said several times that he wants to be on a committee to expand the jail. 

Then there's Bob Werner, who strangely announced that he is running for Executive earlier in the summer. He hinted he has already met with municipal officials at a location nobody has the guts to mention, and claims their leaders are now on board with a new jail.  You see, he knows how to market these things, unlike his inferior predecessors.

This past weekend, Werner made sure he marketed himself. An anonymous comment, either from him or one of his supporters, was posted on my blog:

"Stop the blame game and get on with a planned bi-partisan solution to the impending crisis. Start talking seriously about the future needs of the courts and the tax payers. Work together instead of griping about the past. Werner and Phillips and others see the need to work this out. Brown needs to bend also and stop pontificating and listen to the options. The jail is a pen stroke away from being declared a human rights violation of Federal law. Werner showing leadership skills the current executive has no idea about."

Contrary to what this political comment suggests, our county history on this point is both relevant and instructive. Here's what has happened in past administrations.

Gerald "Jerry" Seyfried. -  Seyfried completed a $7.5 million prison expansion in 1993 that included a dining hall and a work release facility for females. But he reached the conclusion that "you can't build your way" out of this problem because, as soon as you expand a jail, the judges fill it out of fear they will otherwise be viewed as being soft on crime.

Seyfried formed a prison expansion committee that included the courts, the DA, members of Council and John Stoffa from Human Services. This committee was also charged with coming up to alternatives to incarceration.

Seyfried also began using inmates who volunteered to work odd jobs. The very first person selected, a local town drunk, keeled over dead of a heart attack on the first day of the program. That threw a monkey wrench into things.

Bill Brackbill. - Despite Seyfiried's expansion, which ballooned to $12 million when all was said and done, the jail was soon again at capacity.

"I'm scared," Brackbill told a Morning Call reporter. "I don't want to be involved in building a new prison, and I'm not sure what space we have to expand ... Everyone wants us to lock people up, but nobody wants to spend more money on prisons. We're in a Catch-22."

Corrections officers would later accuse Brackbill of plotting to privatize the jail. He had previously privatized the commissary and medical department. Though Brackbill denied any such intention, he refused to rule out the possibility.

Glenn Reibman. - Overcrowding at the jail forced the County into sending inmates to other counties at what was then a cost of $55 per day. Because of problems with Easton officials, he was forced to demolish a state-of-the art archive building to make way for a $22 million expansion that added about 388 beds. He hoped to build on top of the existing expansion for future expansions, but it is doubtful Easton officials would be very receptive to that idea.

About 3/4 of Seyfried's expansion was funded by grants, but Reibman included the cost for his expansion in a $111 million bond that eventually resulted in a 65% tax hike and layoffs for the first time in county history.

Primary voters gave Reibman his walking papers when he sought a third term. 

John Stoffa. - In 2008, Stoffa commissioned yet another jail study and learned that Northampton County's jail, built in 1871, has "outlived its usefulness." It's a "problem waiting to happen," said consultants from Highland Associates. Six unpleasant and expensive options were presented for bigger prisoner warehouse, one that could pack in around 1,488 inmates. The county could simply abandon the site and start out fresh somewhere else. $130 to 136 million. Cha ching! It could rip down the old prison and build a seven story monstrosity that Eastonians are sure to love. $128 to $132 million. Cha ching! And, of course, it could split operations up and still spend gobs of money.

As consultants laid out the proposals, exasperated Finance Chair Ron Angle questioned where we could build a new prison or even have a split operation. "The reality here is, who the hell wants a new prison?"

To make matter worse, John Stoffa said the brand new courthouse would be full with the arrival of a ninth judge. 

Stoffa suggested that all administration offices should be concentrated at Gracedale, which is the geographical center of the county. That is when he first proposed that the Bechtel and Governor Wolf buildings, which housed human services, be sold and replaced by a new human services building. He would leave the vacated government center for the courts. That would leave more room for both the judges and the people they send to jail. It might even eliminate the need for a new parking lot.  It might also reduce the cost of a proposed prison expansion.

Stoffa's proposal went nowhere because, for his first six years in office, he was shackled by a Council that exalted political sniping over good government.  

But in his last two years, Stoffa made progress with a new work release facility in West Easton. He also brought in a program to reduce recidivism with treatment plans, but Council rejected that contract within a few months after he left office.  

Stoffa ran out of time. 

John Brown - In his first year in office, Brown agreed to drop the only real program the County had to treat inmates and prevent recidivism. He and Council have failed to replace it with another and this is part of the reason why the jail is over-crowded, although I doubt they'd ever admit it. To their credit, Judges Craig Dally and Steve Baratta have attempted to fill this rehabilitation vacuum with problem solving courts. In fairness, Brown has made his staff available to the courts. It's a great program, but I'm sure the judges would like to see something in-house. 

Keen's presentation, while excellent, tells us what we've known since the Seyfried administration.  

Lessons from the past. - We need  governing, not politics. 

Seyfried and Reibman were successful with prison expansions because they avoided politics, at least on that issue. Seyfried sought grants, so that taxpayers only paid about 1/4 of the cost. Reibman was less frugal, and though he did what had to be done, it cost us too much and he lost an election. Brackbill made the mistake of refusing to rule out privatization, which turned a jail expansion into a political hot potato Stoffa was the victim of a hostile council, though he made great strides in his last two years. Brown failed to even appear at Keen's presentation. His penchant for secrecy and politically ambitious council members could ruin any expansion before it gets off the ground. None of them has even mentioned the courts, which must be involved in this process.  All alternatives to incarceration need to be fully explored, and for that, you need the courts. In short, we need governing, not politics. Governing means transparency, not secrecy. We need to know where it is and how much it will cost.