the local AM talk radio show airs, I sent the host the below email once off the road. Discussion centered on the notion that the two Dem commissioners will make up and the Dunbar Township, in so many words, jail project could resume. Will what the radio host and his caller say be how this plays out? Is the strained relationships between the two Dem commissioners, in a nutshell, no more than a common "rift" typical for two people working closely together, inevitably, to experience at some time? Nobody here thinks so, but we'll certainly see. ______________________________________________________ Julie Toye Fri, Aug 22, 2014 at 3:42 PM To: mrafail@wmbs590.com Mark, I heard your thoughts on the 3 commissioners working with the jail ad hoc work group. You said the group needed to share their reports with the 3 commissioners. Just one problem with that. Under a Right To Know request, I obtained those "reports." Of the 450 pages or so that I received, fewer than 20 pages were actual reports generated by that large group, subdivided into 4 groups. Of the 20 pages, there were no reports at all written from 2 groups (the behavioral health group and the courts). Some of the 20 pages were letters, for instance, from the former controller to the Army Reserve, trying to buy that building and sway the brass from selling it to Uniontown Hospital. Most were pages that Jim Killinger wrote, described meetings with contractors (a professional service that needs bids for discussion) and were essentially of no real use. The balance of the 400+ pages were things such as website copies of construction companies, such as the Dick Corp from Elizabeth and copies of the state budget. I kid you not. The most worthwhile document in the whole bundle was the program proposal for Genesis House. I am impressed with the proposal for it. Otherwise, there really isn't a whole lot of value that the jail ad hoc committee generated even though the group first convened in October or November of 2012. Here's a run down in more detail of what the 450+ pages contained. http://www.julietoye. com/Fayette_RTK_Prison_Work_Group_Reports.html Since that time, I obtained both of the geo-technical land surveys done in recent years on that land. I've also obtained old survey maps from the 1930s after the DEP had no records to explain how or when the drainage to Gist Run was altered. I don't know any of the commissioners well, but I believe that there was no decision on Zap's part to end the jail project in Dunbar Township because of a rift between him and Ambrosini. I disagree with you on that much. I truly believe for the first time since the process started that Zapotosky actually read the reports, questioned why Ambrosini told the public for 2.5 mos he had not received the second report when he had. Probably, too, from having worked for the late Frank Mascara, Zap has a better understanding than Ambrosini does of County Codes, regulations and law. I'm not knocking the guy, but I really believe he was not at work much (neither is Ambrosini), hadn't read anything and believed everything Ambrosini told him until he started to hear how much it will cost to stabilize the land, etc. At no public meetings of the county commissioners and at no public meetings of the county prison board ever was there any discussion about including a juvenile detention jail on the site or needing a second story until it came to the planning commission. One comment that Ambrosini made on your show a few weeks ago is still discussed by people I know. That he believes we need group homes for many of our inmates. OK, I agree. Why isn't there active movement now to get the MH/MR ones out to group homes then? I give Zap more credit than perhaps you do of waking up, getting his own copies of things, reading, and realizing that the planning was not done right. He's a smart man when he puts his mind to it. He knows other counties that built big jails have lots of empty cells.
thought out enough, either. He toured Franklin County's newer jail that Crabtree built, but even the warden there wrote to me and felt that the message on Ambrosini was lost. Franklin incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime driving inmates from their rented cages to Harrisburg for hearings. It ended 2013 with about 80 empty cells. Recently when I checked, they had about 40 empty cells, and were waiting to have about 20 others transferred to state prisons. All Ambrosini wants to see there is that Franklin took in about $900K one year in rentals (but again, deduct what they lost to pay overtime to keep those rented cages in transportation to Harrisburg.).
County's jail would be full or near full each day since it was built. In that respect of doing due diligence, Zap's smarter than Ambrosini is. It's more than a rift. Have a great weekend! jt |
During that AM talk radio discussion referenced on the right, it was stated that a third party, more or less, took no more active a role in the jail planning process except to be a casual bystander. While the minority commissioner did not participate in the county jail ad hoc committee work group meetings to avoid Sunshine Act violations from being imposed, she did her homework. She asked more than once for a 5th public meeting to discuss options to building an all-new jail. She also asked for and received a second yes vote in 2013, from the commish chair, that the 3 commissioners would meet for work sessions, reviewing what information was given to them from the county jail ad hoc committee work group. Never happened. It's unfair to make that kind of blanket statement on a radio show, given that she drew up an alternative option last year to get pre-constructed buildings placed behind the current courthouse jail to accommodate inmates. The problem would have been solved at this time if someone had listened to her. A few more portable buildings such as ones state prisons and other correctional facilities are using, offer a quick solution for over crowding. Especially when something so practical, adding a few more building cubes as soon as possible, quickly could provide desperately needed space for therapies, educational enrichment programs, release planning, vocational training, etc., Fayette missed the boat by ignoring the minority commissioner's plan and the low dollar numbers plan that members of the Referendum created. Lets hear them and lets hear all of Commissioner Zapotosky's ideas before we conclude it's best to revisit the pyrites in Dunbar Township. jt 22Aug 14 |
Editor's Note: In paragraph 3 on the right, in the blue background email, I mentioned that no work group reports were included in a RTK answer seeking county jail ad hoc work group reports for the behavioral health and court groups. Subsequent RTK requests to learn the number of county inmates incarcerated with behavioral health issues, veterans status, and non-violent offenders came back with "We don't know" answers. Seriously, they didn't know. These guys are a hoot, no? How can anyone plan a jail, a rehabilitation program, umpteen treatment models and NOT know the demographics of the people incarcerated at the county jail? |