It’s still bursting at the seams, but the inmate numbers at the county prison are improving.

During a Prison Board meeting Wednesday, Warden Eugene Berdanier released the figures for the first three months of 2019. The total combined inmate population, including in SCP and other county prisons, was 288 in January, 303 in February and 298 in March. By comparison, during the same time period in 2018, the numbers were 326, 316 and 207.

The peak number of inmates in March was 243 male inmates and 61 female inmates, with the average number of outsourced inmates 73. Currently, there are 63 inmates housed in other facilities: Berks County, 1: Centre County, 29: Columbia County, 20: Lackawanna County, 3: and Northumberland County, 10. During March, a total of 31 offenders were active on pre-release status, although four were removed due to violations.

There were 42 inmates on detox watches and 49 inmates on suicide/mental health watches during March. There were five pregnant inmates in-house during March.

Total salaries/wages for March were $262,594, plus $13,474 in overtime wages. Staff vacancies include one lieutenant, two full-time corrections officers, and three part-time corrections officers.

During February, 15 inmates participated in the work-release program, and 9 inmates participated in the vocational rehabilitation program. Three female inmates participated in the work-release program. The vocational rehabilitation program completed 17 jobs during march, including 13 community service job, two jobs for the county and two jobs for senior services.