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HARRISBURG - Leaders of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association (PSCOA) urged lawmakers today to block any attempt by the Rendell administration to close two state prisons as part of a bid to close the state's budget gap.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, PSCOA officers told lawmakers that the state's prison system is already overcrowded, posing security risks in facilities across the state.

"If the state closes SCI Pittsburgh and SCI Waynesburg, a bad situation will only get worse," said Roy Pinto, a PSCOA vice president. "Our concern, obviously, is for the public safety and we can't see how closing two prisons will make the state safer."

PSCOA represents 9,800 corrections staffers across the state. PSCOA was formed in 1998 and the union began officially representing the prison staffers in June, 2001 after winning a bid to part from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

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. But Pinto told lawmakers that even with the new facility open the system would remain over capacity.

"In a system built to house slightly over 34,599 inmates, currently we have over 40,570," Pinto said. "The system has already exceeded the DOC's projections for 2010. We're not saying the answer is to build new prisons but the answer can't be to close these facilities."

PSCOA supports passage of legislation that will assure a minimum staff complement to ensure public safety. Currently, the state can set manpower levels with 'due regard to safety.' This standard needs to be raised by being more clearly defined in law.

"We all understood the dangers involved in this profession; each of us accepted those dangers when we choose to put our uniform on," Pinto said. "But the state has a responsibility to provide the safest possible work environment we possibly can and that starts with ensuring proper manpower."

Pinto also highlighted a possible bid by the Rendell administration to privatize commissaries across the state to trim costs.

"We're talking about 54 people who might lose their jobs if the commissaries are privatized. The state should be looking at ways to better manage these facilities rather than hand it over to private firms," Pinto said.

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

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