Delaware County Councilman Brian Zidek recently called for the county Board of Prison Inspectors to make a plan to transition from private management of George W. Hill Correctional Facility to public management.
From The Delaware County Daily Times:
"I wanted to call publicly on the prison board to plan for a transition to a public prison so that all of our options are open," he said.
At our Public Hearing in September, Councilman Zidek explained the complicated relationship between County Council, the Prison Board, and GEO Group, which is contracted to manage the prison facility. George W. Hill is the only county jail in Pennsylvania under private management.
Additionally, there are no elected officials on the Delaware County Board of Prison Inspectors. Councilman Zidek called our attention to Pennsylvania statute Title 61, which governs prisons and parole in the state. This statute sets forth that every county will have a County Jail Oversight Board, composed of the following members:
The county chief executive
Two judges of the court of common pleas, one of whom shall be the president judge, or his designee who shall be a judge, and one judge appointed by the president judge
The county sheriff
The county controller
The president of county council or his designee
Three citizen members
However, Delaware County is exempt from following these provisions in the statute.
View Councilman Zidek’s full statement from our Public Hearing to learn more: