SUNBURY - While the full cost savings to Northumberland County is a difficult amount to estimate, Commissioner Frank Sawicki said the financial benefits of establishing a holding cell in the county prison will likely be realized.
"It makes it more convenient for the municipalities in terms of police overtime and getting them (officers) back out on the street," said the chairman of the Northumberland County Prison Board Friday.
On Wednesday, the board formed a three-person committee to determine whether establishing a holding cell in the prison for county-wide municipal police use is a feasible idea.
Magisterial district judges John Gembic, of Shamokin, and Hugh Jones, of Mount Carmel, advocated for the holding cell at the meeting, saying it would allow for police officers to return to active duty instead of waiting hours for a judge. It would also allow a more efficient process, which would get those with smaller offenses out of the prison system.
Gembic estimated at least $125 in savings per offense. The county wouldn't incur the expenses of transporting a defendant from the judge's office or pay a constable to do so.
"It's hard to say a definite savings. You have four different magistrate offices in Sunbury, Shamokin, Milton and Mount Carmel," said Jones, noting some areas would incur more savings than others.
Jones said on-call magistrates would still be needed for emergencies and search warrants, but they wouldn't necessarily have to arraign a person outside their jurisdiction. Often, without a holding cell, magistrates overseeing someone they are not familiar with might inflict stricter punishment, leading to a week or longer of incarnation by the time the home magistrate receives the paperwork. With a holding cell, a person would wait until the morning to be arraigned by their home magistrate.
Jones said other larger counties have already moved toward this concept and smaller counties are following suit.
"It's just a question of putting a couple pieces together," said Jones.
Prison Commander Bryan Wheary explained they have available cells and the equipment for arraignment via video conference.
"It's feasible to us to have a holding cell and making this work. It's not a burden on us and it's not going to ruin the operation of the prison," he said. "It makes it easier on the police department, the prison system and everyone."
The prison system would have to add extra video surveillance and a staff member to check in on the person in the cell every 15 minutes, said Wheary.
It's not known yet how much this would cost or what the total savings would be for the county, said Wheary and Sawicki, which is what the committee will determine.
"There are details we still need to work out," said Sawicki.
The eventual goal, said Jones, would be to establish a central booking agency in the prison where all defendants are taken to be arraigned, and it would have a larger system of identification.