By Greg Gross
The York Dispatch
YORK, Pa. — York County commissioners on Wednesday inked a deal with the state Department of Corrections that increases the amount of money the county receives for housing some state inmates at its prison.
The county will now receive a $75 per day, up from $70, for some of the state inmates housed at York County Prison, said Commissioner Dog Hoke.
“This helps us offset our expenses,” he said.
Some of the inmates are parole violators and have to attend programs while in prison
The rate applies to prisoners who require additional services, known as “programming.”
“Programs address — depending upon the needs determined through assessment — motivation, thinking, anger management, employment, career development, coping skills, parenting, financial responsibility, money management and recovery maintenance,” said Susan McNaughton, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.
The memorandum of understanding is for three years but could be extended an additional five. The measure was passed unanimously by commissioners at their weekly meeting.
Other fees: The county also houses additional state inmates, typically those who are about to be released, as well as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, but receives a different per-diem for each type of detainees.
In March, commissioners agreed to a deal with the state that upped the per-diem from $60 to $67 for inmates who aren’t required to take part in the programs.
At the start of the year, the county planned on housing an average of 50 state inmates a day and 750 ICE detainees a day. The county receives $83 per day for each ICE detainee it houses.
However, the ICE population at the Springettsbury Township prison dropped drastically at the start of the year — down to 480 detainees in mid-February. The prompted county officials to work toward increasing the number of state inmates.
As of Wednesday there were 210 state inmates and 690 ICE detainees in the prison, Hoke said.
“Since ICE was down at the beginning of the year, we had to ramp up (the number of inmates from) the Department of Corrections,” Hoke said in an interview after the meeting.