Carbon County officials are looking at ways to lower overcrowding issues at the prison.

During the county prison board meeting on Wednesday, the board welcomed Brian Alboucq, president of Homestead Family Services, who spoke about creating a day reporting center for inmates currently incarcerated for minimal offenses.A day reporting center allows eligible inmates to serve the remainder of their sentence outside the prison walls. They would report to the center daily, where they would receive counseling, educational support, job help and other classes to help them reintegrate into society. The estimated cost to operate the program would be $360,000 annually.Alboucq said that a center would help relieve the overcrowding at the prison, located on top of the Broad Mountain in Nesquehoning. As of Wednesday, the inmate population was down to 170; significantly lower than a few months ago when the daily population hovered over 200; but still very high for the current facility's size and number of available beds.The prison is a 192-bed facility.Services that the day reporting center would provide include relapse prevention, anger management, housing, public assistance, job skills, and other programs to help the inmate."Our goal is to help the clients integrate back into the community," Alboucq said, "and not back into their same bad ways. We will teach them the tools so they are not back on the streets selling drugs or breaking laws. This would save the county."In addition, the company would partner with employers in the area to find employment opportunities for the clients."Hope is the biggest thing in this because without hope, our clients are going to relapse back to exactly what they were doing before," he said.Homestead, which doesn't have a current location set in Carbon at this time, plans to use the Phase program, a five-phase program implemented in Montgomery County.The program allows the person to go through programs and meet sentence requirements while reintegrating into society.Alboucq noted that to make it feasible, Homestead would need between 25 and 50 clients to get the program off the ground.It would cost the county about $32 to $34 dollars a day per person.Warden Joseph Gross said that the daily cost per inmate is about $65.Gross asked at what point the cost per day shifts from the county's responsibility to the person because the person's goal is to reintegrate.Alboucq said that would need further discussion.Commissioner Wayne Nothstein asked if the county would be responsible for medical benefits while people are serving out their sentence.Alboucq said they would be on public assistance.District Attorney Gary Dobias asked who would determine who is eligible for the program.Alboucq explained it would be determined by the court, district attorney's office and probation office.Following the presentation, Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard, president of the prison board, said the board will continue to gather more information on day reporting centers because is it something that can help alleviate the overcrowding issue that has been plaguing the county for years.He said that the bottom line is the cost to the county and the savings.Earlier this year, members of the prison board, as well as court staff, visited two-day reporting centers to see how they are operated.Discussions will now continue on the matter.In other matters, the state inspection of the prison was completed on Feb. 6.Gross said he is now waiting on the report from the inspectors.