State prisons in Schuylkill, Luzerne, and Wayne counties will remain open.

Area legislators Thursday morning said the Department of Corrections is only closing SCI Pittsburgh.Earlier this month, the DOC said it would close two prisons. The prisons the DOC was considering for closing were Frackville, in Ryan Township; Retreat, Luzerne County; Waymart, Wayne County; Pittsburgh, Allegheny County; and Mercer, Mercer County.The annual cost of operation for Pittsburgh in 2017-2018 is pegged at $100,510,000. Closing would net savings of $81 million.The DOC says the number of inmates is falling, and the remaining 24 prisons could absorb the inmates displaced by the closures.State Sen. John T. Yudichak, D-Luzerne/Carbon, is breathing a sigh of relief."I am proud that the people of Luzerne County have demonstrated once again that we stand strong and united to protect jobs and protect our community," Yudichak said."I am convinced now, more than ever, that Pennsylvania must reform its protocol for closing prison facilities. However, I must thank the (Gov. Tom) Wolf administration and the Department of Corrections for listening to our case and ultimately, making the right call that SCI-Retreat should remain open," he said in a prepared statement.But not everyone is happy.Jason Bloom of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association criticized the three-week window between the DOC's announcement of its intent to close the prisons and its final decision."Communities were given only weeks to fight each other to stay open. Now, inmates will be stacked like cordwood into a system that is bursting at 104.7 percent capacity, despite aggressive efforts to reduce the prison population," he said."This also comes at a time when we have a record number of parolees (2,100) who have absconded and more are committing crimes. These people should be found and sent back to prison, but we can't do that if we continue to close prisons. That means decisions are being made that aren't in the best interest of public safety," Bloom said."The PSCOA calls on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to approve legislation that will create a formal, proactive and transparent process for any future attempts to close prisons. Such a process exists in other states. As we've seen in Pennsylvania, decisions that affect thousands of working families are being made behind closed doors - with little regard for public safety. If this legislation isn't done, we can expect this secretive process to continue to hurt families and communities in legislative districts across Pennsylvania," he said.Those who testified Monday at a joint Senate Majority Policy and Judiciary committees hearing opposed closing any of the prisons, saying they doubt the state would realize savings in the long run, and that employees, their families, and inmates would suffer.Check

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