By Tom Lisi
LNP, Lancaster, Pa.
LANCASTER, Pa. — In their final reports of the year, Lancaster County Prison officials highlighted the work of employees throughout the facility in 2023, saying they had consistently gone beyond their everyday duties, particularly during logistical crises and complications with prisoners.
At a prison board meeting Thursday, Warden Cheryl Steberger outlined how prison officials worked long hours to find safe landing spots for defendants who were stranded upon release from Lancaster County Prison.
The warden recounted a situation in November in which a 65-year-old man had been picked up on a Lancaster County bench warrant in Baltimore. Authorities there transported the man to Lancaster County Prison but neglected to transfer along with him the man’s identification and personal belongings.
After the man, who required a wheelchair, was released from the warrant, Steberger said prison officials had to scramble to find him a place to stay before his train trip back home the following day.
Prison officials declined to make the individual’s name public Thursday.
Local churches and homeless shelters could not take him at the time, the warden said. Four different hotels would not take him, Steberger said, because he didn’t have identification.
Released from prison with nowhere to go before this train the next morning, Steberger said prison officials resorted to giving him a change of clothes and a blanket and pillow to sleep in the lobby of the prison.
“We do need that care afterward. ... Where are these folks going to go? I think communities need to help in doing that,” Steberger said.
The warden said temporary housing, even for 24 hours, is needed for such situations, and the social services offered in Lancaster County usually can’t meet the need.
In honoring the work of prison staff over the last year, officials described other similar harrowing situations in releasing inmates who have almost no family or resources to simply walk free.
Prison officials pointed to the work of reentry coordinators, corrections officers and others who have helped people leaving the prison system to get a state ID, clothing, food and shelter, so they’re not simply left on the street.
The efforts to safely release inmates with tremendous needs is taxing and requires a lot of hours of staff, the warden said. “We have to do better as a community,” she said.
Awards
At the Thursday prison board meeting, prison administrators recognized four employees with awards for their service in 2023.
Joe Roschel, a work release specialist, won the December Service Award for his efforts in getting inmates through red tape so they are able to enter the prison’s work release program.
Through the program, qualified inmates can work a job during the day and stay in a more relaxed housing block dedicated to work release participants. To qualify for the program, an inmate cannot have outstanding legal issues related to past cases, said Deputy Warden Joe Shiffer .
“One of the things that (Roschel) is extremely adept at is working with outside agencies and the courts” to resolve any roadblocks to the program, Shiffer said.
The deputy warden also presented the Exceptional Achievement Award to Christina Fluegel , a reentry manager. Fluegel has been deeply involved in finding resources for people released from the prison, like the 65-year-old arrested in Baltimore .
“A lot of people don’t know the depth and detail she goes through to get these things done,” Shiffer said.
Fluegel herself recognized two staff members in the reentry department, Heather Pack , reentry coordinator, and Earl Mosely , reentry specialist.
Pack and Mosely are consistently involved in difficult release cases, Fluegel said. They have helped people get state-issued IDs, groceries, housing and social services.
“These two go above and beyond every day for individuals who are entering the community,” Fluegel said.
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