Members of the Wyoming County Prison Board, (above, clockwise from left) Paul Litwin III; Commissioners Judy Mead, Tom Henry, and Ron Williams; chief clerk Bill Gaylord; district attorney Jeff Mitchell; Warden Ken Repsher; and president judge Russell Shurtleff, met the Wyoming County Courthouse for their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday morning.
Photo and Story by Rick Hiduk
The number of inmates released decidedly outnumbered intakes at the Wyoming County Prison last month, according to a report delivered by Warden Ken Repsher on Sept. 5. By day’s end, he expected prison population to be down to 72. The cost per month to tax payers to outsource inmates to other institutions also dropped by about $1,200 to $13,550.
Repsher is also down another corrections officer, after one called in on Sept. 2 and quit. He asked the prison board for and was granted permission to hire a replacement. He related that he has some applications on file but nobody in particular in mind for the job at the moment.
Several nuisance issues plaguing the prison over the summer have proven persistent, Repsher noted, including problems with the AC/heating unit, computer glitches, and an external sound that has yet to be identified specifically about which neighbors have complained.
On the latter, commissioner Tom Henry noted, the neighbor has offered to help remedy the situation, after wrapping an air unit failed to solve the problem. Repsher said that he has sat with adjacent resident George Mercer on his porch and agreed that the noise level was unpleasant. Mercer is an engineer, and Henry is hopeful that he and maintenance staff at the facility can soon find a solution.
It is possible that the computer and air conditioning problems at the prison are both related to electrical surges and/or grounding issues. Henry related that Penelec is monitoring the surges but has yet to determine the problem.
Repsher suggested that the relatively new air system may have been a bit “too much” for the 30-year-old wiring that is original to the building.