PRISONS EXPENSIVE TO RUN, MAINTAIN

A collision of conflicting desires caused the crisis our county
government faces in paying for Schuylkill County's prison.

The public wants drug dealers off the street. The public wants drunk
drivers off the road. The public wants longer sentences. However, the
public also wants to cut costs.

It seems the county government, for several years now, has not
budgeted enough money for the prison, at least according to the
warden and the county's budget analyst.

It is sort of like a private household that ignores the rising cost
of energy and keeps budgeting the same amount of money each year to
heat its domicile. Then, when the oil bills or electric bills come
in, the money has to be gotten from someplace else.

This year, the commissioners are looking at an overrun of $635,000,
of which $400,000 is for "professional services" - that's a fancy way
of saying doctor bills for prisoners' medical problems - and the rest
is for wages and overtime.

When following this story, it is easy to get sidetracked and caught
up in the partisan bickering and the verbal acrobatics of blame throwing.

The commissioners, Republicans Frank J. Staudenmeier and Robert S.
Carl, and Democrat Mantura M. Gallagher, say they had no idea the
prison was running over budget. They found out over the Sept. 29-30 weekend.

However, the warden, Eugene Berdanier, says he informed the county
administrator's office weeks ago.

Obviously there was some kind of disconnect, but the voters must not
let either part turn it into smoke to obscure the fact that the
prison is underfunded as well as overcrowded.

Elected officials do this sort of thing because they know people
don't like to pay taxes.

When the public reads that the cost of government is rising, they
blame the people running the government.

Often, the elected officials are at least partially at fault and they
end up taking the blame. What we never read about and, what no one
questions, is whether the public's desires are realistic.

People must learn to accept that if they want to get tough on this
and crack down on that and lock 'em up and throw away the key, the
prisons will start to fill up.

Many of the people who go to prison are not healthy. Drugs have a
deleterious effect on one's constitution. Many of these people labor
under mental illnesses. Crowding sick and mentally disturbed people
into tiny prisons will only exacerbate their conditions.

Being tough on crime is an expensive proposition.

We are not saying we should be lenient on crime. We are only saying
that the taxpayers need to face the expensive reality and that
elected officials should make that expensive reality clear and not
try to pretend, each year, that it won't happen.