The Schuylkill County prison population peaked in May with a total of 294 inmates. An average of 43 inmates over the month were sent to out-of-county prisons to alleviate overcrowding.

As of Wednesday, 30 inmates were housed in other counties.

There were 27 in Centre County, one in Columbia County, and two in Northumberland County, according to Warden David Wapinsky’s report to the county Prison Board.

The cost to taxpayers is $70 per inmate per day for a total of $2,100 per day.

Last year, the county set aside $932,292 for what it calls “outsourcing” of inmates. This year, the amount was increased to $1.5 million.

Sending excess inmates to other counties began in 2016, after the state Department of Corrections learned that too many inmates were living three to a cell due to overcrowding. The department ordered the county to stop accepting new inmates if the average daily inmate count topped 277.

To meet that requirement, the county began sending overflow inmates to out-of-county prisons.

Since then, county officials have explored less-costly solutions, but have yet to settle on a viable plan.

They included an intermediate punishment facility that would prepare inmates who were close to their release date for life outside by addressing jobs, drug addiction, mental health and other issues.

The county in October 2017 hired Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, Mechanicsburg, for $38,400 to update its 2008 prison study to determine what the needs will be over the next 20 years.