2008 News

April 7 , 2008

Bucks County Commissioners Implore State House Reps to Support Four-Bill Prison Reform Package

Today, the Bucks County commissioners called upon the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Bucks County delegation to support a four-bill prison reform package that would place more responsibility on the state for its more than 200 state-sentenced prisoners in the county jail.

This week, the house will consider final passage of the four bills which call for confinement reimbursement (HB4), permission for counties to utilize state Department of Corrections (DOC) transportation resources to move inmates as well as to encourage the use of video conferencing (HB5), authority for county judges to grant parole to inmates serving state sentences (HB6), and improvements to the process by which the DOC can transfer seriously ill inmates to receive care (HB7).

In a letter to house representatives, Commissioners Jim Cawley, chairman, Charles H. Martin and Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia called upon the members to, “support the entire four-bill prison reform package without amendment!”

Bucks County now houses approximately 12 percent of inmates who are serving state sentences in its maximum/minimum custody facility, where the cost to house inmates is $85 per day per inmate. In our minimum custody facility, the cost is $54 per day per inmate.