Prison overcrowding in Lycoming County has been around so long, it is almost seemed like “prison” and “problem” were two words joined together in marriage. Five years ago, GEO Services began the process of removing that word “problem.” Today prison overcrowding has not just been removed as a problem, the prison has vacancies! What it took to get to this point is quite a story.

The original Lycoming County prison was built sometime around 1799 and 1801 at the corner of West Third Street and William Street with about a dozen cells. In 1867, the building caught fire and was totally rebuilt with the signature current tower. At that point it held nearly fifty cells and could accommodate 100 prisoners. This worked for one hundred years, but then in 1977, inmates filed a class action lawsuit over safety and medical concerns caused by overcrowding.

In 1982, the county commissioners made the decision to build a new prison on 277 West Third Street, which was opened on January 19, 1986, with a capacity for 150 prisoners. Unfortunately, crime did not adjust itself to the prison size, and within three years it had already outgrown its capacity. The solution was to transfer inmates to other counties for incarceration.

The only long-term answer appeared to be to build a new and larger prison. But the cost of $40 million price tag for such a facility would obviously add a huge debt load to the county. Alternatives to building a new prison were sought out, and in 2012, a program of a Day Reporting Center for non-violent offenders was considered. The Adult Probation Office had already been utilizing global positioning system monitoring for four years at that point, and had supervised bail and intensive supervised release programs for many years prior to that. The judges, the district attorney’s office, the probation office — it appeared everyone was on board and ready to expand this option.

In early 2014, GEO Reentry Services was tasked to put together a program that would be the right fit for Lycoming County. John Hogan, GEO area manager in Pennsylvania, knew that he needed to start with a good team, so he hired eight local personnel for the three levels needed; admin personnel who had some background in criminal justice or education or social work, treatment personnel with some existing experience, and finally the program director, Michael Boughton. That original team has been a foundation that has served well.

Then there was the difficult situation of finding the right location. Many wanted the Day Reporting Center outside the city center. The courts and the probation department offices were in neighboring buildings in the center of Williamsport and it did not seem to be a deterrent to business. In the summer of 2014, the Board of Commissioners and President Judge brought 20 local business owners together and answered their questions about locating the GEO Reentry Services in the Executive Plaza, location of most of the county offices. The openness helped relieved the fears, and the location proved ideal.

Then, in September of 2014, the program was initiated and it was not just monitoring, but a complete custom-designed program that tailored behavioral change and substance abuse treatment with life and job skill offerings. A battery of assessment tools is used – nothing is cookie cutter. Every person in the program must volunteer, and failure to comply results in incarceration.

By all metrics, this program has been extremely successful. It has totally eliminated the need and expense of shipping inmates to other counties and at the same time has reduced recidivism. In less than five years, this program has graduated 289 people through the program. Almost 100% of graduates are employed, and certified “clean.”

Despite the success, every month the GEO Program Manager meets with the President Judge, District Attorney, Board of Commissioners, Director of County Administration, Department Warden and Chief Probation officer to review outcomes and discuss what if anything could be improved. Yes, this does come at a cost, but considering that every person in the GEO system is not in jail (which runs $65/$70 day), and GEO now has 46,000 days of jail diversion, this is is program that virtually pays for itself.

Five years ago the the county was wrestling with an insurmountable prison problem, and through a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication of some outstanding people, the county today has an invaluable tool for criminal correction, the GEO Day Reporting System.