Schuylkill County continues to send inmates for whom it has no room in its aging prison to be housed in other counties, and the cost continues to erode the budget.

On Wednesday, Warden Michael Buchanan reported to the Prison Board that 27 inmates were being housed outside the county. Two were in Centre County; two were in Clinton County and 23 were in Northumberland County.

County Controller Sharyn M. Yackenchick said the cost per inmate per day is between $70 and $80. That doesn’t include transportation or any overtime prison staff may accrue.

The state Department of Corrections in 2016 determined the daily population in the 174-year old prison, on Sanderson Street in Pottsville, exceeded its limits.

The state ordered the county to stop accepting new inmates, and capped the total allowed at 277.

The county found no other solution than to house the overflow at other prisons.

The county has explored building a new prison and a prerelease center, but neither seems feasible, mostly because they’d cost more than the county can afford.

In March, it cost the county $1,240,139 to operate the prison, Warden Buchanan said.

In other matters, District Judge Edward J. Tarantelli Jr., whose office is in Frackville, told the Prison Board that the district judges are stretched thin with on-call arraignment duties in light of a shortfall of district judges

Former District Judge Andrew J. Serina left his office in Orwigsburg after being elected to Commonwealth Court judge in November, and former District Judge David A. Plachko retired that same month. That leaves the county with five district judges.

Commissioners Chairman Larry L. Padora Jr. said they’d discuss the matter further.