Schuylkill County is finalizing details of sending 35 sentenced inmates to prisons in Delaware and Muncy to relieve overcrowding.

For security reasons, officials will not say when the inmates will be moved.County solicitor Al Marshall said at a prison board meeting Wednesday he's just waiting to hear back from his counterpart in Delaware County on final details.Officials plan to send 25 men to the private, for-profit George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Thornton, about 83 miles away, at a cost of up to $60 a day each under a one-year agreement. Fifteen women will be sent to the State Correctional Institution in Muncy, about 64 miles away, at a cost of $60 per inmate per day.It costs Schuylkill $44.23 to house each inmate each day. The diversion program is a short-term solution the county will use as it works on a permanent solution to the overcrowding problem.The state Department of Corrections has ordered the county to reduce overcrowding.The county prison, on Sanderson Street in Pottsville, has a capacity of 277 inmates. But the actual number of prisoners has for more than three years routinely exceeded that, and too many inmates are being triple-celled for too long in violation of state law.According to a July 22 agreement between the county and the state, Schuylkill promised that by Nov. 24 to reduce the population 277, and not exceed that except on a temporary basis of up to 30 days.If the county fails to do that by Feb. 1, Department of Corrections Secretary John E. Wetzel may "issue an order classifying the prison as ineligible to receive any additional prisoners sentenced to a maximum of six months or more but less than five years until further order of the Department," the agreement says.Options include sending inmates elsewhere; the county's pre-release program, which keeps inmates at home with electronic monitoring and close supervision; paroling inmates, or building a pre-release center.As of Wednesday, the population was down to 267 inmates from November's peak of 337, with 32 triple-celled, said Warden Eugene Berdanier.That's due in part to the faster transfer of inmates sentenced to state prison time, he said.In other matters, the board hired Thomas Hoban of Pottsville as a lieutenant correctional officer at $53,390 a year. It also offered conditional jobs to two others.Currently three correctional officers are on extended medical leave, and two others are on restricted-duty for a work-related condition.A correctional officer who has been off duty since July 23 returned to work on Dec. 16 without restrictions.Correctional officer Allan Smith, hired Aug. 31, resigned effective Nov. 24. Correctional officer Tom Bevan, hired Nov. 30, 1992, is retiring effective Dec. 31.There are three staff vacancies: the two correctional officer positions held by Smith and Bevan, and a maintenance position.