Fayette County commissioners on Thursday will consider a proposal to rent a building for a temporary women's jail and to seek interest from architects to design a new prison.
Both measures are aimed at alleviating overcrowding and other problems with the existing jail in Uniontown built 124 years ago.
Commissioner Al Ambrosini first broached the idea of a temporary women's lockup during a July 31 prison board meeting.
On Tuesday, he announced that a potential location on Iowa Street has been identified for the proposed facility, but it must be approved by the Department of Corrections.
The Iowa Street location is vacant, but it previously housed an unemployment office and a school, Ambrosini said. Tax records show it is owned by Gallatin Capital Partners Inc. Stephen Neubauer of Uniontown is president of the corporation, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State's website.
Ambrosini said a prison working group that he organized and chairs identified the Iowa Street location as a possible site for a low-security, dormitory-style women's lockup.
It would house up to 50 female inmates to help reduce the number of prisoners who are housed in rented cells in other counties until a new prison is built, Ambrosini said.
The prison was built to house 76 inmates, but with additions throughout the years, it is now approved for 262. The county is generally paying about $150,000 to $200,000 a month to rent cells in other counties, Ambrosini said.
Cells for roughly 90 inmates are rented as close as Greene County and as far as State College in Centre County, officials have reported.
Commissioners have not voted to build a new jail, but Ambrosini and Vincent Zapotosky in July commissioned a $24,000 study to determine the daily per-inmate cost of building a new prison versus renovating the existing facility or taking no action.
The motion calls for the county to contact the state corrections department to evaluate the Iowa Street site to ensure it meets requirements for a secure facility. At the request of Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink, the motion includes a stipulation that the county will put out a request for proposals from other building owners who may be interested in leasing property for the temporary facility.
Zimmerlink questioned how the Iowa Street location was identified, noting that commissioners did not previously discuss the idea of a temporary women's facility, nor have they officially sought proposals from interested property owners.
When Ambrosini said the idea was publicly announced at the prison board meeting, Zimmerlink pointed out the announcement was not a substitute for advertising for proposals.
Noting the county spends as much as $200,000 a month to house prisoners in outside counties' jails, Ambrosini said his goal is to make changes as quickly as possible to save tax dollars until a new jail is built.
“It's important for us not to waste time,” Ambrosini said. “We need to get this facility up and running.”
After the meeting, Zimmerlink said she identified at least one other site that could be suitable for the temporary women's facility – the former Uniontown city police station on East Peter Street, next to the jail.
Although the vacant structure has been cited for municipal code violations, Zimmerlink said the owner is willing to travel from Texas to discuss its possibilities for the county.
Zimmerlink said she will try to amend the agenda on Thursday to have state officials examine the East Peter Street location when it inspects the site on Iowa Street.
In a separate motion, commissioners on Thursday will consider seeking qualifications from architects for the design of a new prison.
Ambrosini said commissioners won't know for certain if a new prison is the best option until the study is done, but Zapotosky said that likely will be the recommendation.
Zapotosky said previous administrations ignored studies that recommended a new prison be built to address overcrowding and inadequate facilities.
“Nobody wants to do this,” Zapotosky said. “The bottom line is, it's a necessary evil.”
Zimmerlink voted against advancing the proposal to seek architects' qualifications, in part because the board has not yet decided whether the county needs a new prison.
Liz Zemba is a reporter for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-601-2166 or lzemba@tribweb.com.
