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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Majority
Whip Bill DeWeese |
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Revived SCI-Waynesburg to create 175 jobs
HARRISBURG, Dec. 14 – As a means to combat Pennsylvania’s prison overcrowding crisis, the former SCI-Waynesburg is tentatively slated to reopen in early 2010, housing up to 500 minimum-security inmates and creating approximately 175 jobs, according to state Rep. Bill DeWeese and state Sen. J. Barry Stout.
The state Department of Corrections has signed a three-year lease with the current property owner for $1.1 million per year, with a lease cap of $1.2 million per year for additional years, said DeWeese. However, the deal still needs final approval from the governor and state treasurer, which is anticipated later this month.
"The facility will reopen as a minimum-security, re-entry to society facility for those serving a year or less of their sentences. It will be the first of its type in Pennsylvania and those incarcerated will be basically drug and property offenders," said DeWeese, D-Greene/Fayette/Washington.
The expected reopening of SCI-Waynesburg, which closed in 2003 and was sold by the state in 2005, will bring a fourth state corrections facility to the 50th District, the others being SCI-Greene, SCI-Fayette and a new 2,000-bed, medium-security prison slated for either German Township or Luzerne Township.
"While the country and the Commonwealth are starting to slowly rebound from the dire economy, it’s exciting to see these additional full-time, family sustaining job opportunities arrive in Greene County," DeWeese said.
"The state Department of Corrections says this will be a first-of-its-kind re-entry into society facility, offering low-risk inmates some training as well as rehabilitation for those who need it. While Greene County was chosen to be the first, I am told the concept may be duplicated elsewhere."
Stout, D-Washington/Greene, added that the property will remain on the county tax rolls, but will be leased by Corrections and operated as a Corrections facility. That means it will generate county, municipal and school district property taxes, unlike government-owned buildings.
"It is good news that a dormant facility is being brought back to productive life," said Stout. "Even better news is that once this deal is finalized, an additional 175 people will be working in Greene County recession-proof jobs."
After sitting vacant for two years, the SCI-Waynesburg property was purchased by Basalt Trap Rock Co. for $990,000 in 2005. It was used to house the Right Way Academy until that program ended in August 2007.
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DeWeese said he has been assured that employees hired for the revived SCI-Waynesburg will be eligible for interviews when the new 700-job, $200 million Fayette County prison is completed. Department of General Services Secretary James Creedon has announced that four sites are under consideration for that facility, one of them in German Township and three in Luzerne Township. DGS is hopeful that construction could begin by the middle of 2010.
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