Hundreds oppose state plan for parolees, prerelease inmates

By Jaime North
The Daily Item

Sun, May 18 2008

— 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.
Prison official: We need facilities
Paul O'Connor, director of the state Bureau of Community Corrections, which operates 50 halfway houses across Pennsylvania, said the interest in bringing a halfway house to Danville is part of a plan to find cost-saving ways to address a growing prison population.
He said the halfway house program has seen its own population grow from 200 parolees in 1979 to approximately 4,000 today.
Up to $35 million can be saved each year if the bureau can lease buildings from state-owned property, rather than rent and renovate properties in the community, said O'Connor, who added his annual operating budget is roughly $90 million.
"We're looking at nine other state hospital sites," O'Connor said. "We have a direct need here, since 300 people from this area were admitted to our program last year. Generally, our approach is to place people within an one-hour drive of their place of origin. We would not be sending people here from outside the area."
Belfanti: Put it somewhere else
Parolees typically return home after serving time, and this program helps them adjust back into society under supervision, O'Connor said. If they violate their parole, he said they are most likely sent back to prison.
O'Connor reiterated the proposal is not a done deal.
"The purpose of us coming here is to listen to what you have to say," O'Connor said. "The (state) is not whole-heartedly committed to something you don't want or is throwing something down your throat. If we didn't care about your feelings, then we wouldn't be here."
The next step, O'Connor said, is to discuss the options with other state corrections officials. There is no time line for a decision and nothing is set in stone, he said.
Local officials weren't swayed.
"Why not take the money I put into the Capital budget to build a minimum-security facility and put it somewhere else," Belfanti said. "The money is sitting there. If not, why couldn't you use a building on the vacant Harrisburg State Hospital site. There are many more job opportunities in Harrisburg.
"To me, it's a no-brainer. You own it, and it's available."
O'Connor said the purpose of a halfway house is to put inmates back into their home community, help them find work and rehabilitate the issues that led them to prison. Inmates who would be candidates for the Danville house are already driving from Harrisburg and Scranton to the area for work and reconnecting with their families, he said.
Thousands sign petition
Having an open invitation for more criminals to come into the Danville area was a key concern of many locals, including Tom Beiter, who represented the Danville Business Alliance.
"It's always been my understanding not to have parolees consort or spend time with other people on parole," Beiter said. "It seems like we're going to be collecting them here."
Gill and Mahoning Township Police Chief Dave Shope presented their concerns of having inmates integrate into the community, trying to find jobs, tax local services and potentially influence more criminal behavior.
They, along with Montour County Sheriff Ray Gerringer, voiced worries over increasing the workload of local police officers, who are already tapped out in dealing with criminal activity and the local justice system.
Bonnie Trump was among the residents most concerned about the proximity of a day-care center, high school and playgrounds to the proposed halfway house.
She presented a petition with 2,032 signatures opposed to the proposal.
"I recognize transitional housing is a good thing," Trump said. "I also recognize Montour County is the smallest county in the state. We don't have the appropriate infrastructure to support another state program in addition to the (North Central Secure Treatment Unit), The Gatehouse (homeless shelter) and Danville State Hospital. We're going to be significantly overburdened."
Montour County Commissioner Jack Gerst closed the forum by urging residents to stick together and continue the fight with correspondence to Gov. Edward Rendell, who will have the final say in the matter.
"We were able to convey a strong message tonight, and we didn't do it through anger or acting crazy," Gerst said. "This is important to our community, and I don't want to see our community in shambles in five years. It will happen.
"There are 18,000 of us. Let's not go to sleep on this."
n E-mail comments to jnorth@dailyitem.com.

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