Alle-Kiski Pavilion halfway house for state inmates closes in Arnold

The Alle-Kiski Pavilion, a halfway house along Fourth Avenue in Arnold, has closed because of budget cuts at the state Department of Corrections.

As a result, 35 inmates have been relocated to other facilities.

Alle-Kiski Pavilion, owned by the GEO Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., serves as a halfway house to offenders who are released from state prisons as their sentences are nearing an end. It had a capacity of 60 inmates.

Attempts to reach Arnold Mayor Karen Peconi and community development director Rick Rayburg for comment were unsuccessful.

The state Department of Corrections announced a number of cutbacks in August because of a $140 million budget deficit.

In addition, the corrections department’s inmate population dropped by nearly 1,900. That is the largest one-year decrease in the department’s history, according to a corrections department news release.

“The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections advised GEO in September 2019 that, due to statewide budgetary shortfalls, they would no longer refer clients to the Alle-Kiski facility,” said Monica Hook, vice president of GEO Care strategic marketing.

GEO has not determined how the facility will be used moving forward, Hook said.

The 35 inmates were moved to another facility by the end of September, according to Department of Corrections spokeswoman Maria Finn.