Schuylkill County’s bill for housing some of its prisoners at other county prisons as a way to relieve overcrowding in its facility, is continuing to grow.

During a prison board meeting Wednesday, Warden Eugene Berdanier said that year-to-date, the cost for such temporary housing was $1,372,113, which includes the cost for November, $158,535.

The county budgeted $1.4 million to cover the expense in 2018.

As of Wednesday, there were 79 inmates housed in other facilities (Berks, 2; Centre, 43; Columbia, 22; and Lackawanna, 12). That’s up from last month, when 68 inmates were housed elsewhere. The average daily cost for the outsourced inmates is $65-70 per day.

There was good news in Berdanier’s report.

He said that since Nov. 29, there had been no “triple celling” or three inmates in a cell. The peak inmate count in November was 260, with an average count of 241 (191 males and 50 females), with an average of 72 housed in other facilities.

Last year, in November, the average daily population was 276, with 94 housed in other facilities.

During his presentation to the board, Berdanier said that as of Dec. 12 the total inmate count was 202 (164 men and 38 women).

After the meeting, Berdanier said that the low number was due to many inmates “getting transferred to state sentences” as their cases made process through the court system.

The money to house the inmates in other counties comes out of the county budget’s general fund. The county has been housing inmates out of the county since May 2016, when the state Department of Corrections ordered it to keep the county prison population below a cap of 277 inmates.

Berdanier also reported a staff vacancy in part-time corrections officers. There are 15 part-time positions at the county prison, and currently only 7 are filled.

He said that part-time officers typically work two to three days per week.

According to reports from Work Release Coordinator Joseph Huth, 12 inmates participated in the work-release program during November.

Six men and one woman are awaiting approval/admittance to the work-release program; three male defendants are awaiting approval/admittance to the vocational rehabilitation program. Four inmates participated in the vocational rehabilitation program during November.

During November, through the vocational rehabilitation program, 16 jobs (included 13 community service) were completed in the county. One job was completed for Senior Services.