Westmoreland jail benefits financially through pandemic slowdown

Although the coronavirus has not impacted the Westmoreland County Prison like some other jails, the pandemic has improved the facility’s bottom line, officials said.

The virus considerably lowered the inmate count at the Hempfield lockup, which in turn has led to savings of more than $18,000 in medical expenses this year, including about $12,000 in April, Warden John Walton told members of the county’s prison board on Monday.

Those lower medical expenses are directly tied the number of inmates housed at the jail.

Under terms of a five-year contract awarded in 2017, Wexford Health Sources, the private company that provides health care to jail inmates, is paid a base fee of $2.2 million this year for medical services.

The deal calls for the county to make additional payments when the average daily inmate population exceeds 650. The county receives reimbursements from the company if the inmate population is less than 630.

Fewer inmates has meant larger reimbursements to the county.

“They (Wexford) are having savings too because there are less inmates and fewer people are being taken to the hospital,” Walton said.

Walton said that 410 inmates are now housed in the facility, a decline of 27 from a month ago. There were more than 600 inmates at the jail at the beginning of March. The jail can hold up to 711 inmates.

As the state Department of Corrections, along with other county jails throughout Pennsylvania, have released some nonviolent inmates at risk because of the coronavirus, Westmoreland jail officials last month opted for a more passive approach. Jail officials compiled a list of more than 70 at-risk inmates related to the coronavirus that was forwarded to court officials. Defense attorneys over the last several weeks have petitioned the courts for the early release of some of those inmates with varying results.

Walton said much of the decline in the inmate population is attributed to fewer people being incarcerated. The jail saw 53 new inmates in April compared to 387 who were jailed in April 2019.

Those numbers, though, appear to be trending upward.

Through mid-May, 58 new inmates were incarcerated at the jail.

“Business is getting better,” Walton said.