Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Board moves to deprivatize prison
The Delaware County Jail Oversight Board took the first steps toward taking back control of the county prison during a monthly meeting last week.
Delaware County Executive Director Howard Lazarus said during a Zoom meeting Wednesday that he intends to begin by seeking a “transition manager” and transition team that can assist the county with the process, as well as fleshing out the costs associated with such a move that can be included in the 2021 budget.
County Councilman Kevin Madden, who heads the board, said that the county wants to move expeditiously to bring the prison back under county management, but does not want to
take action until it understands all that such an action might entail. Common Pleas Court Judge Jack Whelan, who formerly chaired county council, said he supports the county undertaking that cost analysis.
The George W. Hill Prison in Concord is currently managed by the private, for-profit company the GEO Group under a fiveyear, $264 million contract signed in December 2018.
Taking back local control of the prison was a major campaign promise when Democrats were running for county council last year. With all five seats now held by Democrats, Madden said council is still working to effectuate that plan, but has been stymied by the coronavirus pandemic.
The company has come under fire from corrections officers recently for staffing shortages that they claim create a dangerous work environment. One guard was brutally beaten there last month and sent to the hospital with severe injuries.
Delaware County Controller Joanne Phillips reported that the prison is currently staffed at 92%, though that figure includes those on various types of leave. GEO will pay the county a penalty of $99,992.64 for the staffing shortfall in August, she said, as required by the contract.
Facility Administrator David Byrne said there is typically about a 30% turnover rate at the prison, but GEO has been working to bring on more staff and hopes to hit the 100% staffing numbers required by the contract within 30 to 60 days.
He said the company has brought in three additional regional human resources personnel to schedule interviews with potential hires, has eight new employees that have started since Sep.t 1 and has 15 applicants in the background check phase.
“We have 81 applicants who are on the initial screening phase and will be scheduled for an interview within the next two weeks,” said Byrne. “We also have an additional 36 applicants in the queue that have not begun the initial screening process. We’re experiencing issues with individuals failing the background phase. Some don’t show up for their drug screening or they simply drop out during the on-boarding phase.”
Acting Warden Donna Mellon also noted the prison computers “went down” Aug. 19 and the county information technology department was called in to help.
Madden confirmed the prison computers had been hit with what he deemed a “national-level ransomware issue,” but said the prison was not operationally impacted.
Corrections officers reported that a training computer at George W. Hill had been infiltrated by a hacker or hackers who threatened to release sensitive information stored on GEO servers unless the company paid a large sum of money, reportedly in the millions of dollars.
One officer said the computer was overnighted to GEO’s corporate headquarters and there was initially a worry that guards would not get paid. While paychecks have been issued as usual, some still worry that their private information including Social Security numbers and banking information associated with direct deposits may have been exposed.
A GEO spokesman has not responded to numerous requests for comment on the hack or how the company plans to address any potential fallout for employees.