After fierce arguments Wednesday over whether people arrested overnight in Schuylkill County should be housed at the county prison, the prison board called it a day and plans to meet again next week to, hopefully, resolve the issue.

The debates ranged from costs, available space at the prison and policy, said Gerard Daley, president of the Schuylkill County Police Chiefs Association.

“There was a lengthy, lengthy discussion about the (district) judges not being available at night, and where we were going to go with the people that were in custody,” he said.

“Ultimately, it was tabled until (11 a.m.) next Wednesday.”

Daley said the board agreed to immediately send an engineer to the prison to inspect it and make recommendations.

Efforts to reach prison Warden Michael Buchanan were unsuccessful Wednesday.

The county has seven district judges, each elected to six-year terms. Their offices are open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a lunch break between noon and 1 p.m.

Typically, there is one judge on-call during off hours to handle arraignments.

But those judges are under pressure.

In April, District Judge Edward Tarantelli spoke to the Prison Board about the stress of handling overnight on-call arraignments.

But there’s currently a shortage of district judges since Andrew J. Serina, who worked in the Orwigsburg office, was elected to a county court judgeship and David Plachko, who worked in Port Carbon, retired.

If the county had a place to lodge arrestees until the judges regular hours, it would help tremendously, he said.

Prison Board Chairman (Commissioner) Barron L. Hetherington answered Tarantelli, saying the county is exploring resolutions to the problem.

It’s hard to say how many people are typically arrested overnight.

“There could be days where we wouldn’t have any, then weeks where we have some every day. Now, we take them to our station and contact the on-call judge to do the arraignment. Some do video, others make you come in person to their office,” said Daley, who is Ashland’s police chief.

For Tamaqua Police Chief Michael Hobbs, the lack of a resolution translates to worry about residents’ safety.

“In the past, we used to be able to call a magistrate and he would come out immediately and arraignment them and we would take them to county prison,” he said.

That’s when the process moved swiftly.

“My biggest concern is that residents would be left with little or police coverage while the person arrested was being taken to county prison after they are arraigned by the magistrate,” Hobbs said. “The safety of our community needs to come first. “Police need to be available to be respond to emergencies, always, and not pulled away from our duties.”

His police station has three holding cells, but they’re meant for very short-term use.

“The responsibility of holding someone overnight, we don’t have that capability,” Hobbs said.