Fri, May 09 2008
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Published March 27, 2008 12:15 am - Fifty-six percent of parolees return to jail within three years, Danville Police Chief Eric Gill told the 200 residents packing the Danville Ballroom Wednesday night. "Where," he asked, "will they be committing these crimes?" Hundreds oppose state plan for parolees, prerelease inmates Hundreds oppose state idea for parolees By Jaime North The Daily Item DANVILLE -- Fifty-six percent of parolees return to jail within three years, Danville Police Chief Eric Gill told the 200 residents packing the Danville Borough Ballroom Wednesday night.
"Where," he asked, "will they be committing these crimes?" Gill addressed a public forum on the state Department of Corrections' proposal to use the vacant Kirkbride building next to the Danville State Hospital as a facility to transition state prison parolees and prerelease inmates back into community. "This," Gill said, "will certainly add to our crime rate with people supporting their drug addiction, because these people are already thieves and drug users. "I believe the quality of life in the borough and county will be affected." Danielle Rock would agree. She said she doesn't want convicted sex offenders or drug users roaming her neighborhood. Neither do Scott Nichols and Abby Laubach. And Scott Crane said he believes having a halfway house in Danville would ruin the community. While state Rep. Robert Belfanti, D-107 of Mount Carmel, attended the meeting -- as did staff members of U.S. Rep. Chris Carney, D-10 of Dimock, and state Sen. John Gordner, R-27 of Berwick -- it was the local residents who spoke the loudest. Not in my neighborhood "I used to sit outside on Mill Street and watch the Halloween parade," Crane said. "Now I get to do it with my 2-year-old son. I don't want to lose that. "There is a deep respect in our community, which has taken generation by generation to build. We have earned our share of heaven here." Nichols was concerned about the location of the halfway house. "The only way to get to the Danville State Hospital (campus) is through my neighborhood," Nichols said. "If you're having guys wander around our streets from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., they're going to do it in my neighborhood." The proposed halfway house would help up to 300 state prison inmates adjust to freedom each year. Seventy inmates would rotate through the halfway house every three months. 
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