lccf — Lebanon County correctional facility working group

As noted on its website, "The Lebanon County Correctional Facility is a 5th Class county prison and a short-term confinement facility" -- http://www.lebcounty.org/depts/Prison_System/Pages/default.aspx  

The prison houses an average of some 300-500 inmates.  In April 2021, for instance, the inmate population was down to 294 from nearly 500 two years earlier, largely in consequence of an intentional effort to reduce the population after March 2020 because of Covid-19.  

Basic information on the LCCF can be gleaned from the archived LC-CJAB minutes, at http://www.lebcounty.org/depts/LCCJAB/Pages/MeetingsMinutes.aspx

The Prison Board oversees the operations of the prison.  The Prison Board meets on the third Wednesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. in the LCCF meeting room.  As noted on the Prison Board webpage, "Individuals, committees or groups wishing to meet with the Prison Board are requested to call the Commissioners office at (717)-228-4427 prior to the date of the meeting to arrange for an appointment; see http://www.lebcounty.org/depts/Commissioners/Pages/PrisonBoardMembers.aspx

Members of the Prison Board include: 

• County Commissioner Bob Phillips (Chair)
• County Controller Robert M. Mettley (Secretary)
• District Attorney Pier Hess Graf
• Sheriff Bruce E. Klingler   
• Warden Tina Litz

The PA Department of Corrections is not responsible for the operations of county prisons in PA, but it is responsible for providing oversight and collecting data on those prisons, as seen on the PA-DOC "County Prisons" webpage, at https://www.cor.pa.gov/Facilities/CountyPrisons/Pages/default.aspx

On the PA-DOC's "Inspection Schedule, Stats and General Info" web page can be found a variety of comparative data on PA county prisons, based on the data those prisons submit to the DOC.  

Here's some of what we learn about the LCCF for the year 2018 — the most recent year for which data is available:

For the LCCF in 2018:

• County Class:  5th
• Bed Capacity:  645
• Hard Cell Beds:  211
• Dorm / Day Room Beds:  434
• Work Release / Community Corrections Beds:   N/A
• Avg. In-House Daily Population:  518
• Avg. Housed Elsewhere Daily Population:  2
• Admissions:   3,054
• Discharge:  2,415
• Admin. Staff:  Full-time: 12  Part-time:  0
• Security Staff:  Full-time: 91  Part-time: 12
• Treatment Staff:  FT:  17  PT:  6
• Support Staff:  FT:  6  PT:  0
• Other Staff:   FT:   0  PT:  0
• Annual Prison Budget Approved:  $9,961,109.00
• Annual Prison Budget Spent:  $10,103,788.05
• Avg. Cost Day / Inmate:  $49.65
• Revenue:  $720,630.24

Note the last of the boldfaced statistics above:  an average cost of $49.65 per day per inmate.  Of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, only one — Mifflin County — reported a lower average expenditure than Lebanon County ($46.16 per inmate per day).   The average for all PA county prisons was $83.67, meaning that Lebanon County spent 59 percent of the PA average on each inmate per day.

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