Schuylkill County has narrowed down which inmates of its overcrowded jail it will send to out-of-county prisons.

The state Department of Corrections has ordered the county to alleviate overcrowding.The Prison Board has decided to handle the problem by sending the overflow to other prisons while it works on finding a site - and the money - for a pre-release center to reintegrate inmates back into society.The inmates most likely to be sent out will be those who have already been sentenced, Warden Eugene Berdanier said at a Prison Board meeting Wednesday.They are the ones least likely to need to be brought back to Schuylkill for hearings. If they do need to participate in a hearing, that can be done through videoconferencing, he said.The county in July signed an agreement with the state to abide by a timeline to alleviate overcrowding.By Nov. 24, the population must be down to the prison's capacity, 277, and not exceed that except on a temporary basis of up to 30 days.By Jan. 1, if the state finds the county failed to comply, it will issue a written statement and meet with the board to discuss the matter.By Feb. 1, if there is no solution, the 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.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.As of Wednesday morning, there were a total of 311 inmates, 60 of whom were triple-celled, Berdanier said.It costs the county $44.23 a day to keep each inmate; farming them out could cost as much as $85 a day per inmate.The county is negotiating with Cumberland County prison and is awaiting information from Delaware County prison.Prison Board Chairman George F. Halcovage Jr. said the board is also exploring placements in state prison.He said Northumberland County, Sunbury, which was extensively damaged by fire in January, has been housing female inmates in the state prison at Muncy.In other matters, the board accepted the resignations of lieutenant correctional officers Brian Rice of Pottsville and David Whitman of Valley View.it also gave permanent job status to correctional officer Corey Symons of Ashland at $17.51 an hour, and offered conditional employment to Juan Escalante, who would be a lieutenant.Escalante worked at the Carbon County Correctional Facility for 12.5 years, most recently as a sergeant.That rank is equivalent to a lieutenant in Schuylkill County.