Warden Eugene Berdanier submitted a report to the Schuylkill County Prison Board at Wednesday's meeting held in the prison, showing how programs initiated have helped to deal with the overcrowding.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections rated the capacity of the prison at 198, although the county has 277 beds. The population has exceeded 200 for a long period.The county has averaged 2,100 new prisoners a year from 2007 through 2010, but in 2011 it dropped to 1,850, and in 2012 to date 453 new prisoners have been confined.President Judge William E. Baldwin speculated that the drop in economy could be the reason for the reduced numbers because many municipalities have reduced their police staff or eliminated them with concentrations made pertaining to more serious crimesIn his report, Berdanier states the average population from Feb. 1-29, was 275 and for this period the jail population was 138 percent over capacity."It cost the county $50 per day to house an inmate," Berdanier's report stated.He outlined programs initiated since 1992 to the present, which have provided 118,797 jail days saved and the estimated savings to the county was $5,939,950. He listed such programs as electronic monitoring, work release, the Intermediate Punishment Program (IPP), bail and probation and parole.His report claims the Electronic Monitoring Program is utilized on those offenders meeting the IPP standards of the Sentencing Commission. It was developed in 1992 as a sentencing alternative.This program monitored 1,947 offenders in their homes in lieu of jail. Since the beginning of the program, monitoring fees have been paid by the offender, initially $4.25 per day and currently $12 per day. Additionally, a great benefit of this program may be for those offenders placed in it because of a medical condition.If imprisoned, the county incurs all medical costs but under electronic monitoring it is responsible for their medical care and costs. In 2006, the program expanded to include driving under the influence (DUI) cases which were placing a burden on the prison population. Berdanier reported as of Wednesday, 18 offenders are monitored, and five additional offenders have been sentenced and are awaiting installations of the system in their homes.Other programsBerdanier reported that the adult probation department assumed full control of the The Work Release Program in April 2000 and this program continues to afford offenders the opportunity to pay their debt to society while maintaining their employment. The county has 44 beds in the prison's work release section and they are constantly filled.Work Release residents are required to submit room and board payments at a rate of $60 per week plus costs and fines. In addition they are offered the opportunity to purchase food, toiletries and laundry supplies.Berdanier said in 2011, a total of 102 residents participated in this program. A total of $51,211.02 was collected for room and board and $18,885 collected for costs. Since 2007 a total of 1,007 offenders have participated in the program and paid $702,748.04 for room and board and $224,319 for costs.There is also a Work Detail Program supervised by the adult probation department which gives the inmates an opportunity to work outside the prison performing various community service-type projects for the county and for nonprofit agencies.The probation department also has started a Vocational Rehabilitation Program whereby inmates provide routine maintenance type services for senior citizens through the county's Senior Service Department. In 2011, a total of 46 inmates participated in these combined programs and performed a total of 1,743 hours and completed 256 jobs.The Schuylkill County Restrictive Intermediate Punishment Program (SCRIP) was created in 1998 and its goal was to give the court a sentencing alternative that is both punitive and rehabilitative for non-violent, drug/alcohol dependent offenders.Currently there are 30 people participating in this program. A typical sentence would be 60 months, with a specific number of days on house arrest with electronic monitoring followed by intensive supervised probation. Since 1998, a total of 171 offenders have participated in the program permitting 101,784 jail days saved, which amounts to $5,089,200 in savings.The county offers a bail program which affords the court an option of releasing an offender from the overcrowded county prison, where the defendant would remain incarcerated until time of their trial. Currently 32 pretrial releases are under supervision. In 2011 there were 81 offenders released on bail which amounted to 9,976 jail days saved.The Parole and Probation Program was established to integrate the delivery of correctional programming into related community supervision and operations as deemed necessary for protection of society.In 2011 the caseload averaged 2,038 cases per month. Of this amount only 403 were incarcerated for violations. Of this number 177 were returned to the county prison and 10 sent to a state facility. Currently there are 2,041 active cases under supervision of the adult probation department.In 2009 the court adopted the recommendation of the County Criminal Justice Advisory Board to develop programs descriptions, recommendations and guidelines for the awarding of good time credit. In 2011, a total of 30 inmates earned good time and were paroled prior to their scheduled minimum date of release and the county saved 283 jail days.