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NEWPORT TWP. — For the second time in as many years, state officials are making plans that could shut down the State Correctional Institute at Retreat.
And for the second time in as many years, Northeastern Pennsylvania’s state legislative delegation is reacting to the news with a bipartisan show of solidarity against closure of the facility.
“We have a tremendous fight on our hands,” state Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, said Wednesday. “We can’t allow this action, which will have a devastating effect on Luzerne County’s economy.”
SCI-Retreat has 384 full-time employees and nearly 1,100 inmates, according to the state Department of Corrections website.
Unlike 2017, when SCI-Retreat was among five state prisons Gov. Tom Wolf was eyeing for closure — only SCI-Pittsburgh was chosen — this time it appears Retreat is the only facility on the list.
Also unlike 2017, Luzerne County is already facing a second major blow: Recently announced plans by the state to close the White Haven State Center, a 112-resident home for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
The combined effect, Yudichak and others said, would be a significant blow for the area.
“If both White Haven Center and SCI-Retreat close, it will mean a loss of 840 total jobs and a direct economic impact loss of $105 million,” Yudichak said. “This constitutes a significant impact on the families connected to both facilities and on the region.”
Yudichak said employees were notified about the plans on Wednesday, but administration officials were publicly silent. He added that the state has pledged to offer Retreat’s employees positions at about a half-dozen other state prisons that are within 65 miles.
Prison officials told him the administration needs to close a $140 million deficit and will unveil its plan to close Retreat today, Yudichak told the Associated Press.
Efforts by the Times Leader to reach a DOC spokeswoman were unsuccessful, while the Associated Press reported that Wolf’s office declined to comment.
SCI-Retreat opened in 1988 on the grounds of what had formerly been a state mental health facility, and before that a county-operated home for the poor and mentally ill which dated back to the late 1800s.
Mullery blasts Harrisburg
State Rep. Gerald Mullery, D-Newport Township, said he is readying himself for another battle against the planned closure of SCI-Retreat.
“This is more bad news for an area already reeling from last week’s White Haven Center closure announcement impacting 112 residents, their families, over 400 workers, and the surrounding business community,” Mullery said. “This latest closure will impact another 400 employees — 80 percent of whom live in Luzerne County — dealing another blow of job losses and economic impact to our region.”
Mullery, who was critical of Gov. Tom Wolf after the White Haven Center closing was announced, again lashed out at his fellow Democrat.
“These decisions are easy to make from behind a desk in Harrisburg when you don’t have to look those affected in the eyes or listen to their concerns,” Mullery said.
“Gov. Wolf and Secretary (John) Wetzel need to visit Newport Township to see those whose lives they are disrupting and to hear, first-hand, the impact of this proposed decision. Our corrections officers should be worried about safely patrolling the blocks they guard, not whether they will need to find a new job, uproot their family, or be able to pay their bills.”
According to the Associated Press, the state corrections officers’ union said it appreciated a pledge by the Department of Corrections not to lay off Retreat’s employees, but it argued that closing the prison makes no sense given questions about Pennsylvania’s parole system and impending changes to it.
“It’s very clear that price tags are being placed before public safety,” Larry Blackwell, president of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, said in a statement.
Pennsylvania’s state prison population is about 48,000, after reaching nearly 52,000 in 2012. Wolf’s administration closed a state prison in Pittsburgh in 2017, the AP reported. The state’s prisons cost $2 billion to operate, a cost that rises almost every year in a $34 billion state operating budget.
Joint statement
Yudichak, together with state Sen. Lisa Baker and state Sen. John Gordner, also issued the following joint statement regarding the plans:
“Today, we heard from unions representing SCI Retreat that a formal announcement regarding the proposed closure of SCI Retreat will be forthcoming in the days ahead from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC).
“The proposed closure of SCI Retreat combined with the proposed closure of White Haven State Center is a devastating and dramatic blow to the families of Luzerne County. The families and communities of Luzerne County will be forced to deal with the loss of nearly 900 family sustaining jobs and over $100 million in direct, annual economic impact.
“While we understand the constraints and challenges of the state budget, Luzerne County is being asked to shoulder an unfair burden of responsibility for balancing the budget.
“We oppose the proposed closures of SCI Retreat and White Haven State Center. We will voice our opposition through every means at our disposal, especially the recently enacted Act 133 of 2018, that requires the PA DOC to hold a public hearing to justify the closure of a state corrections facility.
“As we did two years ago, we will join forces to fight for the families of Luzerne County. We understand the odds are not in our favor, and historical policy trends are against us. However, we are going to make the case to the Administration that SCI Retreat and White Haven State Center are too important to the families they serve and too important to the regional economy to be shuttered.”
Countywide impact
While neither SCI-Retreat nor White Haven is a county facility, the Times Leader reached out to Luzerne County Manager C. David Pedri to ask if he had heard the news about Retreat, and what impact he thought the closures would have on the area.
Pedri said the job losses would be a “devastating development” for the community.
“I will stand with Sen. Yudichak and our other representatives to remind Harrisburg that those numbers on a page are actually real people — Luzerne County mothers and fathers,” Pedri said.
The Associated Press and staff writer Jennifer Learn-Andes contributed to this report.
