Schuylkill County has spent $199,370 so far this year to house overflow inmates in other counties.

As the county works on finding a long-term solution to alleviate overcrowding, its Prison Board on Wednesday discussed using some of the 44 beds in the prison’s work release section to handle the overflow and reduce overcrowding.

As of Wednesday, 80 inmates were housed out-of-county.

There were four in Berks County, 37 in Centre County, seven in Columbia County, 14 in Lackawanna County and 18 in Snyder County.

Prison Board Chairman and President Judge William E. Baldwin raised the possibility of using the work release section.

“If we could utilize all 44 of those beds, or a large number of them, we could reduce the number of people who are triple-celled and being sent out,” he said.

There will have to be some maintenance done first, Baldwin said, “but we’re going to move in that direction as soon as we can.”

An officer would be assigned to the section, Baldwin said.

“We only have a few people on work release right now,” he said.

Inmates will have to meet certain criteria to be housed in the work-release section, and work release inmates will be thoroughly searched upon their return from work to make sure they aren’t smuggling in contraband.

The county started shipping overflow inmates out to other jails, at a cost of between $65 and $70 per inmate per day, after the state Department of Corrections in May 2016 ordered it to stop accepting new inmates until it got the population below a daily average of 277.

That doesn’t include overtime or transportation; the money comes from the county’s general fund.

The DOC lifted the restriction three months later, after the county kept the numbers down.

“We’re keeping under the 277 pretty well,” Baldwin said.

Long term, the prison board is planning an intermediate punishment facility.

The county has hired Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, Mechanicsburg, for $38,400 to update its 2008 prison study to determine what the county’s needs will be over the next 20 years to help determine the nature of the facility.

Also on Wednesday, after an executive session, the board agreed to the resignation of correctional officer Jaymee Kruss due to medical reasons. No additional information was provided. “The termination was amicable,” said District Attorney Michael A. O’Pake. “She was a good employee and the county is sorry to lose her.”

The board also heard brief presentations from Jubilee Ministries and Teen Challenge.