Schuylkill County taxpayers are shelling out about $4,000 a day to house overflow prison inmates in other counties.

On Wednesday, county commissioners approved a contract with the Centre County Correctional Facility in Bellefonte to house inmates at $75 per person per day, retroactive to Jan. 1, through Dec. 31.

As of Wednesday, 59 inmates were housed out of the county, Warden David J. Wapinsky said at a Prison Board meeting.

Last year, the county earmarked $1.5 million to pay for out-of-county housing.

The county began housing inmates elsewhere after the state Department of Corrections in 2016 found the 171-year old prison on Sanderson Street in Pottsville was routinely overcrowded. It ordered the county to stop accepting new inmates, and capped the average daily population at 277.

Wapinsky reported on Wednesday that February’s peak census was 223, and there was no “triple celling,” housing inmates three to a cell.

The county has for decades been looking for a solution. Options include a pre-release center. Last year, the public learned they were looking at the former Schuylkill Transportation System building for that purpose.

In other matter matters Wednesday, commissioners approved a contract with the McClure company, Wilkes-Barre, to install new mixing valves for cell block showers at the prison for $19,222. The contract runs for March 15 to Dec. 31, 2023.

Another contract is with Abel Fence LLC, Wrightsville, to install 405 feet of galvanized, chain-link fence to enclose the mezzanine and stairs in A block, B block, C block, D block, and F block for $85,600.