Westmoreland County’s Prison Board on Monday approved the hiring of nine new corrections officers to ensure the facility remains fully staffed heading into 2025.

Warden Steve Pelesky said the additional guards were needed to rebound from several resignations and retirements of staff in recent months. The facility employs more than 140 corrections officers, he said.

For years, the county struggled to hire enough guards until a series of structural changes enacted this year improved those efforts. The county converted part-time positions to full-time jobs and that, along with salary bumps as part of a new union contract, helped fill vacancies.

As many as 30 guard vacancies were on the books as recently as 2022, officials said.

The new hires come as the inmate population at the county jail continues to increase.

Pelesky said 674 inmates were listed as assigned to the jail Monday, including 80 who have been temporarily assigned to other institutions or released to attend court proceedings. The facility averaged 676 inmates daily throughout November, about 100 more than were housed at the facility a year ago.

“We’re now reaching the point where we were prior to the pandemic,” Pelesky said.

The number of inmates dramatically decreased during the coronavirus outbreak as fewer arrests led to smaller numbers of criminal defendants being housed at the jail. County officials also actively lowered the facility’s inmate population through an expansion of pretrial probation programs as covid spread through the jail numerous times in 2020 and 2021.

The jail’s inmate population fell to about 400 during the early days of the pandemic.

Pelesky said the jail can house up to 720 inmates before it is considered to be overcrowded.

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