Plans to close two state prisons are part of the state budget that Governor Josh Shapiro outlined on Tuesday.
Administration officials have not yet identified which prisons would be impacted by the $51.5 billion proposal, which suggests closing the facilities in response to a declining inmate population.
In his 2020 budget plan, Shapiro’s predecessor, Governor Tom Wolf, targeted State Correctional Institution Retreat, which had closed that summer, with a similar financial provision.
Shapiro’s plan carries on the practice of shutting state prisons, which includes:
Costs of the state’s Department of Corrections increased in 2024 in spite of these closures and dwindling jail populations.
According to a Department of Justice report, Pennsylvania’s jail population increased in 2022 compared to 2021. But generally, there has been a decline of more than 26% since 2011. There are currently just under 39,400 inmates in state prisons.
In his budget proposal address on Tuesday, Shapiro did not bring up the prison closures, instead emphasizing how the budget provides funding for corrections officers to carry out their very important duties.
According to Shapiro, my administration has made filling important CO openings a top priority. We have hired around 3,000 additional correctional officers in the past two years, halving the vacancy rate for correctional officers. We are seeing results from our investments in law enforcement. We know that funding law enforcement is a contributing factor to the decline in violent crime in Pennsylvania.
However, the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association firmly opposed the closures.
PSCOA President John Eckenrode stated in the press release that the organization will make every effort to oppose this foolish choice.
According to the statement, if this idea is approved, it will put officers and prisoners in danger, ruin working families, and possibly wipe out local economies. In my 25 years of service, I have witnessed some of the worst acts of brutality in our state prisons in 2019. The fact that 21 out of 25 jails were over 90% capacity, including 11 over 100%, was largely to blame for this.
Eckenrode claimed that the more uniformly distributed prisoner population throughout all state correctional facilities is the reason for the recent decline in prison violence.
In addition, he pointed out that moving the employees of two jails would have a devastating effect on the local economy.
According to him, state prisons are almost always the main driver of local economic growth. These towns’ families deserve better. We think they already know which facilities they plan to close, and this show-off will only serve to further divide and polarize communities.
2024 Pa. Budget