Luzerne County prison system overseer Mark Rockovich is requesting $11.8 million from the county’s American Rescue Plan earmark for projects at the prison on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre, including an additional cell block, replacement of both elevators and a new roof.
                                 Roger DuPuis|Times Leader

Luzerne County prison system overseer Mark Rockovich is requesting $11.8 million from the county’s American Rescue Plan earmark for projects at the prison on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre, including an additional cell block, replacement of both elevators and a new roof.

Roger DuPuis|Times Leader

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Luzerne County prison system overseer Mark Rockovich has proposed five projects totaling an estimated $11.8 million from the county’s $113 million American Rescue Plan earmark, including an additional cell block, replacement of both elevators and roof repairs.

Department requests for the funding are up for discussion at Tuesday’s county council work session, although Acting County Manager Romilda Crocamo stressed she is not yet seeking a council vote or commitment. The administration can’t verify the projects are eligible for the funding because the federal government has not issued final rules and may not do so until the end of the year, she said.

“I just want to give council as much information about possibilities as I can,” she said.

A cell block addition at the prison on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre would cost approximately $7 million, said Rockovich, the county’s correctional services division head.

He believes there is sufficient land around the prison for an addition, although it would be up to architects to determine the best spot and configuration, he said.

Ideally, the space would hold 50 more cells, with two beds each, he said.

The prison was designed to hold approximately 500 inmates and had an average daily population of 454 in October. Prison inmates are not eligible for the county’s less restrictive, dormitory-style minimum offenders building on nearby Reichard Street.

Rockovich said a new cell block would create a permanent segregated space to automatically monitor all inmates for 10 days upon arrival. He envisions 80 beds for incoming male inmates, and 20 for female ones.

While prison entry observation started with the coronavirus pandemic, he said it also is worthwhile to monitor all inmates before they are released into the general prison population to determine if they have behavioral issues or warrant additional intervention because they are suffering from drug withdrawal and mental health issues, including those at risk of suicide.

Tackling a prison addition is not as daunting today due to modular construction, he said.

Another request, projected at $2.5 million, would construct an approximately 2,088-square-foot addition on top of the prison’s sally port dock.

This proposal was developed to create rooms for physical and mental health treatment because those services are currently limited to small areas on separate floors and should be together and larger to accommodate such a large inmate population, Rockovich said.

Contractors would have to cut an opening into the prison exterior to provide access to the new second-floor area and add security features.

Rockovich had proposed the project above the sally port as an option for federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding, but the county would not have been able to complete it within the tight deadline required.

Five companies had submitted base bids ranging from $1.63 million to $2.8 million to build the addition above the sally port, with deductions if the county opted to eliminate two components involving steps and a specific type of stone panel, the tally shows. Additional bids from various companies were separately submitted for HVAC, plumbing, fire protection and electrical installation.

The Wilkes-Barre Zoning Hearing Board had granted the county’s request for a special exception for the addition above the sally port. Board approval is required because the enlargement of a detention facility is a non-conforming use in an M-1 zone, its agenda had said.

Both projects are a sign that the administration is no longer holding out the possibility of a new prison with a more efficient layout — an idea county officials have periodically floated for nearly two decades but did not advance due to the cost.

The prison has a choppy layout due to its age and design and includes the original castle-like building constructed in 1868 and a multistory addition constructed in 1987. The interior of the original building was renovated when the addition was built, officials have said.

The prison’s two elevators date back to the 1980s, and Rockovich is seeking $200,000 in American Rescue funding that is still needed to replace them.

Council had allocated $350,000 in its now-dwindled capital projects fund to replace the elevators, but the project was put on hold because the estimated cost is approximately $500,000, he said.

Some repairs were completed after a fifth-floor elevator door swung open at the base in 2016, resulting in the deaths of a correctional officer and an inmate.

However, Rockovich said the motor system and controls must be updated, largely because replacement components are now difficult to find. The elevators are in constant use for the transport of meals, laundry and inmates heading to court appearances and treatment, he said.

“This is not a want. It’s a necessity and has to be done,” he said of the elevator replacements.

His final requests: $1.4 million for more spaces to accommodate visitations and video court appearances and $700,000 for roof repairs to stop leaks that are infiltrating the building and causing damage.

The prison currently has three rooms that are used for video court appearances and inmate meetings with bail bondsmen, parole officers and attorneys working on their cases, he said. Because all three rooms are often occupied, attorneys sometimes must leave after unsuccessfully waiting more than 45 minutes to meet with their inmate clients, leading to continuances of court cases that may keep inmates lodged longer than necessary, he said.

Council has time to decide how the American Rescue funding is spent because recipients don’t have to commit to a plan for their money until December 2024. Projects must be completed by the end of 2026.

The division proposals include some with no cost estimates attached. For example, the courts are asking council to consider adding space to house the county’s voting machines at the county record storage facility in Hanover Township so the voter warehouse on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre can be used to house central court, which is in a small structure also near the prison.

The proposals are posted at luzernecounty.org with the agenda for Tuesday’s work session, which follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting. The meeting is at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, with instructions for remote attendance posted under council’s online meetings link.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.