Back | Home | Forward

Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association: Restore proposed budget cuts.

Text of March 6 press release.

HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association (PSCOA) urged Gov. Rendell to restore proposed budget cuts to ensure that two state prisons slated for closing remain open.

“Overcrowding is the most serious issue facing state prisons today. We need every bed and every cell we can muster -- to ensure proper treatment of prisoners, to avoid the spread of diseases and to increase the safety of our 16,000 correctional staffers,” said Don McNany, president of the PSCOA, which represents 10,000 corrections officers around the state.

“The administration should shelve this plan,” McNany said.

Under the plan now being considered by the Department of Corrections, Waynesburg prison would close by the end of this year and SCI-Pittsburgh several months later. A new prison in Fayette County is slated to open in August.

McNany pointed out that the state is already at 120 percent capacity and that the staffers are stretched to the limit.

“If these two facilities are closed, the safety of the staff could be compromised,” McNany said. “The public safety is in jeopardy as well.”

McNany said that the Rendell administration has demonstrated its commitment to the health and welfare of the state’s corrections staffers by adding more money to the budget for medical services.

“Our people are at risk every day not simply from the threat of violence but from the exposure to inmates serious, debilitating and highly-contagious diseases like hepatitis A, B and C," he added.

McNany said that even with the new Fayette County facility opening, the inmate population of 40,000 requires that these facilities remain open.

“Closing the two facilities and eliminating 250 positions, all but three of them from the institution staffs, will not help ease this critical situation,” McNany added.

Secretary Jeffrey Beard echoed some of the PSCOA concerns in his confirmation hearing. Beard told lawmakers that, "A fundamental and basic principle of good correctional practices is the maintenance of orderly prisons. By orderly, I mean that our prisons must be secure, as they must keep those who are sent to us in order to protect the public's safety."

“We couldn’t agree more. Cutting public safety jobs and closing two facilities is not the way to make these prisons more secure,” McNany added.

CONTACT: Lindsay Nichols, PSCOA, Public Relations, Phone: 717-975-0138, Fax: 717-975-0167, Email: lnichols@pscoa.org, Website: www.pscoa.org.